Zootopia: Stone Kole in Hang Ten!
by Old Goat
Summary: Stone Kole is city's favorite three-time small board champion surfer and all the beach bumming fennec fox wants to do is surf the waves. He soon finds out that life is much more complicated when he seeks out a father who never knew he was born, comforts his best friend who has been rejected because of his lifestyle, and deals with the fact that he is in love with a cat.
1. The Briefcase

**Zootopia: Stone Kole in Hang Ten!**

* * *

 **male fennec fox in** ** _The Official Zootopia Handbook_** **which describes him as the "three-time boogie board champion".** **This is a story of his adventures, a coming of age story about a carefree beach bumming surfer and his friends who are growing up along Zootopia's Gold Coast.**

 _I do not own the rights to Zooptopia or any of its characters. This story was written solely for the reader's enjoyment and without any profitable purposes. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious. Thank you to Disney for the movie._

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Briefcase**

 **Our little surfer Stone Kole and his best friend Cooper find a mysterious briefcase washed up near their beachfront camp and it contains more than our two little surfers expect. It also brings a visit from our two favorite big city cops.**

* * *

The sea gull swept high into the deep blue afternoon sky, riding the wind's currents above the shoreline that ran along the part of the city of Zootopia called Sahara Square. In the distance the artificially made dry heated air strained against the cool wet wind blowing in from the sea, creating a perfect updraft for the sea loving bird. Past the Great Dunes to the south the solitary bird flew as it continued its flight along the coast, until finally below it was the section of the district which was informally called by the local residents as The Strand. This was a popular section of the beach and was full of motels and hotels, along with the assorted businesses which catered to the tourist crowd. Where there are tourists, there was usually plenty of trash and with growing anticipation the white and black feathered bird circled looking for a place to land.

Various buildings lined The Strand's famous Boardwalk, which was a lovingly cared for wooden plank walkway which separated the touristy businesses from the sandy beach and the sea beyond. Bars, photo galleries, candy shops and numerous tawdry souvenir shops were lined up along the walkway, above these were condominiums, apartments, and hotels. In the center of it all was the grand Carnival with its exciting rides, game booths, and food stands. Towering everything was a huge Ferris wheel and the vintage roller coaster with their bright lights which acted as a beacon for all those seeking adventure. Further up the coast, the bird could see ritzy Sandy Cove with its luxury condominiums and its protected harbor which bristled with sailboats and fancy yachts. Further north, beyond the harbor, were the icy waters of the Polar Straits and looming even beyond that was the Great Wall which separated the snow from the sand.

Before the predatory and opportunistic bird could land, an alarm sounded and the seagull was attacked by a fast moving brightly red painted drone. The mechanical guardian whirled up to harass the unwelcome bird and drive it away from the beach. Flapping its wings to flee the unwelcome machine, the bird quickly fled eastward towards another distant shore on the other side of the strait. Watching the gull flee the city were two rats in the tan uniforms of the city's Department of Fish and Wildlife. They high fived each other as they recovered the drone. "That's one less winged menace that is not going to try to get a mouse or a mole on our beaches!" one of the rangers announced over the radio before he returned to scan his radar.

Unlike the city's shoreline, the land that the gull was flying towards was dark and more primal. A thick forest of huge pine trees reached up into the misty sky and below the majestic cedars was a dense understory of ferns and bracken that covered the ground. The air here was much cooler and the bird could see a large ferry churning its way away across the waters towards the city beyond. Gliding over a small village called Seaside, with its brightly painted houses which were tucked in a small cove, the bird circled before landing on a sandy beach to find shelter before the sun began to set in the far west.

* * *

The warm afternoon sun shone down upon the beach, the tide was now on its way out and the bright blue green colored water had begun to calm down. No longer were the waves crashing down with the ferocity that they had earlier in the day and because it was off season, the two friends were the only two mammals who could be seen on the white sand for miles around.

"Those earlier waves were total gnarly brah," Stone Kole cried out as he came to shore. "They were dumping and then BAM, the sea went totally flat dude!"

His friend Cooper looked over as the skinny tan colored fennec fox in the black wetsuit carried his surfboard towards him. The small fox suddenly stopped and shook the water out of one of his big ears. "Aw come on Stoney, is this when I supposed to call back with good on ya mate or maybe something like blimey bloke, let's throw a shrimp on the barbie?" he wallaby finally asked.

The fox stopped and looked at his friend, the hopper was sitting on the sand next to his board and had his shiny dark blue wetsuit unzipped down to his furry grey waist. The small animal was trying to enjoy the last of the late summer's sun before the cooler night began. Stone laughed at his friend's remarks before replying, "That's what the public wants, brah!"

"I don't care what they want, BRAH! I only care about beating you in the next match and bringing home the big bickies this time."

"Not going down, I'm the three time small board champ. But speaking of cash, you got any? I'm getting tired of canned beans and whatever I can catch in the surf. I'd love a juicy hen for dinner tonight."

"Let me toss you up a salad. Maybe some yummy rice rolled in sweet dried seaweed, curly dock, watercress, and nettle tips. Blimey, I think I may even have some that glasswort left!"

"I may be an omnivore, but still I would like something tasty," the fox grumbled. "Maybe some coconut grubs roasted over the fire?"

"I'm not the bloke who hit the turps with those two fancy sheilas from the city and spent his whole wad. That and the fact you still have to pay off your back taxes."

"I'd rather face a shark then that IRS dude again. I'm surprised he let me keep my pecker, the gods know they took everything else."

"So the answer is no? I'll share a salad and you can pull some clams."

"I'm tired of sea food!" the fox pouted. "I want some real meat!"

"If you had listened to Angie, you could have pickled some gull eggs this spring," the wallaby admonished the fox. "You want to go hunting tomorrow? Maybe we can bring down one of those winged monsters?"

"Seagull still isn't chicken. Okay, I'll go get me a few clams while you make the salad."

"That's the spirit mate!" Cooper laughed.

Stone walked down to the outcropping and then gingerly climbed out onto the rocks before he crawled over to a tidal pool. After selecting three of the largest mussel he could find, he turned to go back up the beach when something black caught his eye. Carefully he crept over the rocks to where the object was floating and saw that it was a briefcase of some kind. After much pulling and shoving, the small fox dragged it across the rocks and onto the sandy beach.

"Hey Cooper!" he yelled to the wallaby, but his friend had already gone down the path through the dunes and back to their semi-permanent camp. Tugging, he dragged the briefcase along the sand and down the trail towards their camp.

The wallaby heard the small fox's curses before he saw his friend and went to investigate. "What you got here Stoney?" he asked as they pushed and pulled the case into the camp and near the fire pit.

Their camp consisted of an old beat up camper, which had been cheerily painted with blue, red, and yellow stripes. Next to that was a rickety old shack made from various sized driftwood boards with a tin roof. Nearby were a couple cheap plastic chairs and an old broken hippo sized surfboard which they had propped up on cement blocks to make a table. Behind all of that was a brand new screened gazebo with a small hammock inside. It wasn't much, but for the two friends it was home.

Stone looked at the case and tied to open it, but the lock was keeping it closed. "I don't know Coop? It was washed up on the rocks," he finally answered his friend. "Let's open it up, maybe it'll tell us who it belongs to or at least have something we can use."

"Salvage rights," the wallaby added with a grin. "You bloody well got to love maritime law!"

They took a hammer to the lock, but it didn't budge. "Where's a raccoon when you need one," the fox grumbled. Finally after a few more whacks the lock came off and tentatively the two surfers opened the large briefcase.

"Fair suck of the sav!" the wallaby whispered in awe as he lifted out a pawfull of cash. "How much do you think is in here?"

The fox's eyes seemed to glow golden in the firelight as he pushed over and dumped out the contents into the sand. "More than enough to buy me a chicken," he replied with a grin.

"Mate, we need to call the cops. You know we can't keep this!"

A look of sadness came over the wallaby's companion as he stared over at the pile, "You're right Cooper," he sighed in disappointment.

The next morning they hauled the briefcase to the sheriff's office in the nearby village of Seaside and the old walrus recounted the cash in the case before filling out a report. "So we will put this away and if no one claims it in thirty days it's yours," he said with a smile. "But I think that the ZPD will be interested, because this almost matches the amount stolen from a courier across the strait in the city last week."

The briefcase did match and the amount of cash was very close to what was stolen, so two officers from the city showed up the next day to collect it. Stone and Cooper watched as the grey uniformed rabbit counted the cash, twice. "Hey Nick!" she called over to her partner. "It's about five bucks short of what was reported by the zebra!"

The red fox in the dark blue police uniform leaned back in his chair and looked over at the smaller fox and the wallaby. After sniffing around the inside of the briefcase, he grinned before he replied, "Don't worry Carrots, five mere bucks is only chicken scratch! I think our owner has more to worry about then his missing cash." Reaching over, the fox ran his claw along the inside of the case and a false top fell open revealing several small baggies of white powder.

"Eight balls!" Judy exclaimed. "So our victim is really a coke dealer."

Disappointed, the little fox and the wallaby had both beaten a hasty retreat back to their bikes. The little fox was carrying a brown paper grocery sack containing a roasted chicken. As Stone rode off into the distance, Officer Nick Wilde leaned back in his chair again and gave the rabbit a smirk. "A roasted chicken for catching someone movin chickens, I think that's a fair deal," he laughed.

"Chickens? What do chickens have to do with cocaine?"

"Aw Fluff, didn't you learn anything during all those fancy crime courses you took? Movin chickens or flippin the birds is street slang for selling cocaine. Either way, someone is going to have a bad afternoon when we get back."


	2. Cooper Rides Again!

**Chapter 2: Cooper Rides Again!**

* * *

 **After a few years of being Cooper's best friend, Stone learns something he should have already known.**

* * *

"Don't get your baggies in a wad dude!" the small tax furred fox in the teal blue sleeveless tee shirt and tropical swim trunks laughed. Stone Kole had a grin on his muzzle that was almost as wide as he was tall while he looked at his best friend.

The little wallaby was face down in the sand and looking up at the fennec fox with an angry glare. He was bare chested, his grey fur was covered with sand and his oversized, loose fitting green and white striped boxer swim trunks had been ripped off in the back, showing his tail and much more.

"Bloody screaming gulls!" Cooper growled as he reached for a beach towel. The wallaby looked up at the sky as he wrapped the blanket around his waist before standing. "That bugger pecked my tail!"

The fox wiped his face because he was laughing so hard that it had brought tears to his eyes. His friend just gave him a look that caused the fox to begin laughing again. "So…sorry!" Stone finally gasped. "That was hilarious!"

"Why don't those terror beasts every attack you mate? They seem to like going after me instead and I'm taller then you are."

"It's the chompers! Even a gull is smart enough not to fight with something with teeth like these."

As Cooper limped slowly down the trail towards their camp, he lost hold of the towel. "Ugh, that's a sight that I didn't need to see Cooper!" Stone called out. "That gull yanked a good chuck of your fur off from down there."

"Wondered why I was cold in that spot! At least he missed the tail this time."

"You need to see the doc?"

"Naw, the only thing bruised is my bloody pride! Between the gull today and coming in sixth during yesterday's competition, you'd think I was a shark biscuit."

"Come on, we'll get changed and go into the village. You want to have a few brews?"

"I could do with really getting pissed," the wallaby sighed as he entered the shower shack and closed the door behind him.

Stone sat down in the hammock that they had strung up inside the gazebo and waited his turn in the shack. "Don't use all the hot water brah!" he called out to his friend. "I still need to shower and we don't get that much solar heated water."

After a few minutes the wallaby came out of the shack with a towel wrapped around his waist and shook off the excess water. Stone watched as Cooper entered the camper to get changed before he stripped and got under the shower. The water washed off the salt and sand in his fur, it was still reasonably warm but finally it began running cold. . He shook himself as he slipped his shorts back on and padded his way towards the camper. Cooper was now lying in the hammock, the small wallaby had changed into a tee shirt with a surf logo and a pair of grey cargo shorts.

Stone pulled on another sleeveless shirt, which was relatively clean, and a pair of rumpled shorts. Looking around at the room he sighed when he realized that they needed to do another laundry run soon, despite the fact that they really didn't wear that many clothes. Inside of the small camper was a cot where Cooper slept and a basket where Stone curled up inside during the night. They also had stuck in a corner, a larger inflatable air mattress which they pulled out and blew up when one of them had company for the evening, or at least when the fox "entertained a friend" for the night. Stone momentarily pondered about why Cooper never seemed to have company that spent the evening. When Stone and his latest female friend were using the camper, the wallaby would give them their privacy and roll himself up in a blanket on the beach for the night.

It was less than a mile down the beach to the Blue Mermaid Bar and Grill and as they entered the beach front bar there was giggling from several of the female tourist who recognized the fox as he entered. Stone grinned as he walked across the sand to the counter and climbed up onto a stool. The old waitress named Mabel sashayed her way over to his seat with a beer. "Complements of the ladies," the seal laughed as she handed him a mug of his least favorite beer, but it was the one that he once got well paid for shilling in an advertisement, so everyone thought it was.

He looked over at the two young roe deer does, even though they were a small species just at under three feet tall, they were way too big for the fourteen inch tall fox and he gave a sigh as he hopped off the stool and walked over to join them. "A show for the fans," he whispered to Cooper who was trying not to laugh.

"LAADDIIEESS!" he greeted them by dragging out the vowels. "I didn't see you riding the waves today! It was totally awesome out there, bam, bam, and wham, shredding the surf babes. Don't tell me you fine ladies are just shubies?"

He had them giggling and ultimately buying him dinner. He ordered the squab and was impressed that they didn't turn their noses up on him as he chowed into the meat. _Too bad they're so much larger then me,_ he sighed to himself, but he was going to ride this hustle for as long as they were buying. Cooper knew when to rescue him, but as the evening wore on and as one of the does began to get a little too friendly, he looked for the wallaby to save him. That's when he spied Cooper at the bar chatting with another tourist, this was one another male wallaby and they were sitting real close to each other. It was then that the little fox suddenly realized why his old friend had never brought a girl back to the campsite!

"Yo Stoney!" Mabel yelled to the fox. "Al needs you back in the kitchen. He says you've got a call from your agent."

"Sorry ladies, I hate to leave you hanging, but my main mammal calls." Stone dramatically sighed as leapt onto the table and took a moment to kiss them both before he jump into the sand and practically ran towards the kitchen.

He stayed back there talking to with Al and Mabel until the does finally left, before he slipped back into the bar and looked around. "Where's Cooper?" he asked Mabel.

"He took off down the beach with that other wallaby. I think his name is Billy and they were holding paws as they left and were heading towards your campsite."

"Hey Mabel, did you know he was gay?"

"Everyone did," she answered while giving him a puzzled look. "He's your best friend and you didn't know?"

"He never told me," the fox answered. Then his ears dropped as he added. "But I never asked him either."

"Don't tell me you've got a problem with Cooper being gay?"

"Nope, but I guess it's my turn to sleep in the sand tonight!"

Shoving his paws into his pocket, he happily whistled as he walked along the moonlit surf. Stopping he watched the water as it shone white as it crashed onto the sand. Then with a grin, he laughed at himself as he made his way back towards their campsite, knowing that he would have to find a cozy place to curl up on the beach.


	3. Girl Troubles

**Chapter 3: Girl Troubles**

* * *

 **Stone Kohl wins again, but not just while riding the waves.**

* * *

The moon shone down on the beach and the stars twinkled above. Not far from where the two little mammals were snuggling together, you could see the hotels and the bright lights of the Boardwalk. Beyond the dunes, the distance lights of downtown Sahara Square and the tall Palms Hotel and Casino illuminated the night.

"My favorite is still the getting into the barrel, I mean the perfect ride is a full on tube run, riding up towards the top of the opening of the barrel and then getting spit out as the tube as it collapses with that explosion of misty water filled air!" the fennec fox sighed as he ran his paw down the sand cat's back to the edge of her swimsuit and then along her tail.

"A thought you were renowned for your air roll spins?" the small cat asked as she propped herself up on her elbows and watched the surf crashing in the moonlight.

"El rollos, spins, flips, seven twenties, no-hand airs, snaps, cutbacks, all are fun too, but being inside a tube is still the best," he husky answered as his nose found her neck.

"Now stud, this is a public beach with others on it!"

"My tent is just over in the campground."

"Tempting," she purred as she kissed him, her paws running through his chest fur. "But my parents will get worried if I stay out too much later."

"I could totally make it a tubular experience, babe!" Stone Kole chuckled before his mouth found hers again.

"Murrrph!" was her response before breaking their kiss.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?" he chuckled. "Oww!"

"I think the saying is that the cat's got your tongue, fox!" she giggled. "And you can drop the surf lingo around me too...babe!"

"You know me by now Karen, it's all for show. The press and fans just eat it up when I talk that way."

"Totally!" she giggled again as she stretched and rolled over onto her back. He didn't say anything, but just looked into her green eyes. "Besides fox, you've got a big day tomorrow with the Classic and you're going to win."

"Reggie, Jerry, and Cooper are all competing too and they're good," he sighed as he leaned over her. "I could do with some relaxing, something to take my mind off the pressures."

"Nope," she sat up and pushed him away. "You need your rest, now go to bed."

The fox's jaw dropped as he watched her stand up and after blowing him a kiss, grabbed her beach towel and walked toward her condo. After a few minutes of watching the surf, he sighed and stretched before gathering up the blanket and taking the trail back to the campground.

"What's this, no conquest tonight Stoney?" Reggie laughed. The meerkat was sitting by the fire with Stone's best friend Cooper.

"She wasn't my kind," the fox said with a shrug.

"And what's that mate?" Cooper asked. "She's a sand cat, I bloody well know you like cats."

"No, that's not the problem," the fox said as he spread his blanket and sat down next to the fire. "She was nice and said no!"

His two friends laughed and then Reggie added, "So you left her crying on the beach, bummer fox!"

"Nope, she left me on the beach," Stone replied. "She walked off and left me all alone."

"So that's the end of that!" Cooper chuckled as he threw another log on the fire. "Too bad she was a looker, for a girl."

Reggie laughed, "Not your type either hopper? So Stoney does that mean she now available to be overwhelmed by my charms?"

"She said no to my suggestion, not to my seeing her again," the fox huffed as he threw a stick into the fire, his ears were droopy and he had a frown on his muzzle. "So no she's not available. No wait, you know what! It's up to Karen to decide who she dates and not me."

"You really like her don't you Stoney," Cooper asked as he looked over at his dejected looking friend. "This isn't the first go around you two have had this year."

"Okay, I like her," the fox snarled. "Yeah I like the cat! There's more to her then just being a fan, she's bright and funny. She also has the cutest smile and knows a lot about boarding. I just like being around her!"

"Huh!" was all the wallaby said. He looked over at Reggie, because he was about to say something.

The meerkat saw the look that Cooper gave him and he realized that it was now time to just shut up about the whole thing.

The three surfers sat, one was staring into the fire and the other two were watching their friend. Finally the fox sighed and stood. "I'm hitting the hay," Stone announced. "You two don't stay up too late, big day tomorrow."

"Sure dad," the meerkat laughed.

* * *

The morning was bight and clear, with a stiff breeze coming off the sea. Stone stretched and yawned as he stumbled out of the tent he shared with Cooper, only to find the wallaby had started a pot of oatmeal for breakfast and also had the coffee brewing. The fox mumbled his thanks as his friend handed him a mug of coffee, already laced with sugar the way he liked it. After sipping the brew, he rubbed his eyes with his paws and yawned again.

"I didn't think you were ever going to get to sleep," the wallaby commented. "It's not like you mate to get worked up over a competition."

"I just couldn't sleep brah," the fox grumbled.

Reggie plopped himself on the blanket next to the fox. "Good morning, the waves are totally awesome!" he cheerfully said. The meerkat's stomach growled as he looked at the pot and he licked his lips.

"G'day Reggie and yes, you can have some porridge and coffee," the wallaby sighed. "Who feeds you when I'm not around?"

"I forage like my ancestors did!" the meerkat replied as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "I believe in that old meerkat saying, Hakuna Matata! You know, it means no worries…"

"I'll bite your face off if you start singing that song again!" the fennec fox growled.

"Ohhh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!" Reggie chuckled. "Maybe it's because you woke up alone?"

The fox looked up from mixing raisins and crickets into his porridge and cast what could be called a very canid version of the "evil eye" at the meerkat.

"Sorry," Reggie added. "Sometimes my mouth says things it shouldn't."

"Most of the time your mouth says things it shouldn't mate!" the wallaby chuckled.

After their light breakfast, they prepared themselves for the day's competition by doing warm-ups and stretching prior to making a few practice runs. One of the many things about Stone that made him a champion was that he found that rare balance between concentrating at what it takes to win and still maintaining the love of the sport.

Reggie and Cooper quickly knew early on that the fox was going to dominate the contest. He was flawless in his runs, twisting and turning on his board as he shot through the waves with a huge grin on his muzzle. It was almost as if he forgot he was in a contest and was just doing his moves for fun instead. By the competition's end Stone came in 15.1 with Reggie and Cooper just behind.

"How does it feel to have won a fourth time," a reporter from ZNN asked Stone.

The small fox looked up at the camera. "It feels totally awesome brah," the fox replied with a grin on his face and his tail was wagging furiously behind him. "The surf was total rad today! Dude, the Sahara coast is always cranking. They're always coming at me, like 'Raaahh', and I'm amped in the pit. And then I'm like 'Boom, boom, boom! Shaaaaaah!' They're the most awesome-possum waves in Zootopia. Paws down, dude. Paws down!"

As the interview continued, Cooper just chuckled as he watched it on the big screen, his friend continued with his surfer lingo and completely dominated the interview. Then suddenly Stone stopped and seemingly ignored the reporter when he was asked another question. The fox looked distracted and then mumbled, "Gotta go brah!"

The camera followed him as Stone jumped off the interview box and ran across the sand to where Karen was standing. The wallaby could hear the oohs and awes when the fox took the sand cat into his arms and passionately kissed her. "Well I guess our champ Stone Kole is finished talking to me today," the reporter chuckled. "Back to you Peter."

* * *

 **Stone's surfer speech is from the** _ **Official**_ _ **Zootopia Handbook.**_


	4. The Finnick Factor

**Chapter 4: The Finnick Factor**

* * *

 **Stone, Cooper, and Reggie get hired as extras in a film, but get stiffed and another fennec fox comes to their rescue.**

* * *

"They're going to make a what?" the bare chested wallaby in a pair of green and white striped swim shorts asked as he sat with his friend in the city campground. Behind them was a blue tarp which covered the ratty green nylon tent that served as their surfing seasonal home. They also had brought the screen tent with its oversized hammock and the two cheap plastic chairs from their off season home across the strait in the unincorporated community of Seaside or as the locals wryly called it, the " _Land of Misfits and Refugees_."

The tan furred fennec fox was wearing a teal sleeveless tee shirt and a pair of tan cargo shorts as he sat on a beach blanket near the fire pit. "You heard me Cooper," he replied to his best friend. "They want us to be extra's in a beach movie that they're making down the Strand."

"I heard you mate! It's just when was the last time anyone made a beach movie, not counting _Point Break_?"

"That was an awesome movie dude. They did that movie _Surfer Dude_ , you know about those wolves and seals and also that cartoon about surfing penguins."

"Mate, that movie was a clusterwave! Stank to the bloody high heavens!"

"They're going to pay us! Cash in the paws dude, Cash!"

"Blimey, how much mate?"

"Two hundred each for just for a few hours work in the surf. We're going to get paid to play in the water."

Reggie had joined them and the small merrkat in the blue shirt and cutoff jeans was nervously looked around before he sat down. "You guys have any cash and I can borrow?' he asked."The ranger is looking for me because I haven't paid this week for the site."

The campground was just down a sandy trail which leaded through the dunes and onto the beach. It was a popular place for surfers to camp during the season and the cheaper sites like the one they had did not have any power or water, but were shaded by old oak trees and there was a nice bathhouse in the middle of the campground. Stone and Cooper had one of the better sites, a perk of being regulars over several years.

Most of the larger sites that were nearby had various sized recreational vehicles parked in them and Stoney often marveled at their competitive luxury to his and Cooper's old beat up camper back in Seaside. He knew that he could never afford such luxury, even with his winnings on the circuit.

"So are you dude's in?" the fox asked. "The rabbit said to show up with our boards in the morning."

It was a soft evening, the moon rose over the waves and the friends sat on the beach and watched the surf as it rolled in and crashed onto the sandy shore. Music was playing from down the beach at the Boardwalk and the voices of excited tourist could be heard even where they were sitting fairly far down the beach.

"Life doesn't get better then this brah," the fox said to his friend. The wallaby was lying on his back and staring at the stars above.

"Nope it doesn't mate, but one day we're going to have to grow up and get real jobs."

"I know Cooper, but just not this week."

They showed up at the site early the next morning with their boards and were greeted by a slick looking brown rabbit in a black button down shirt and white pants. He had expensive looking gold chains around his neck that glittered in the sunlight. "Ah, there you are!" he called out to the three friends. "We've just started filming a love scene, so go on over to the commissary and grab a snack. We'll call you when we're ready to film your scenes."

The commissary was a large green and white tent that was just off the beach. Looking around inside, Stone was amazed at the amount of food that was available. "How much for a Danish?" he asked an old goat who was putting out some fruit.

"Free for the cast and crew, so grab what you want," she answered.

Stone grabbed a muffin and a cup of coffee before he sat down next to Cooper in the sand to watch the hubbub of the set. Everyone was jumping and running back and forth, until the filming began and then it was suddenly silent. They were filming a scene where the film's star, Rip Rock, was meeting his girlfriend on the beach. "Isn't he a little old for a surfer?" Reggie whispered to Stone. Rip Rock was a middle aged muscular bull and they watched as the filming stopped several times so they could apply more makeup over the bull's greying fur.

"You think we'll have to wear makeup mate?" Cooper asked.

"It'd wash right off," Reggie replied.

Finally bored with watching as they filmed the same scene over and over again, the three friends decided to go down the beach and practice in the waves. All three were quickly recognized and spent part of their time talking to fans, getting their pictures taken, and signing autographs.

It was late in the afternoon when they got called back to the set. "We'll film you three in the surf and then you're done," the rabbit told them.

They didn't go into the water right away and sat in makeup while a badger bushed and trimmed their fur. Most of the filming continued with Rip Rock on the beach as scantily dress girls ran back and forth. "Lose your shirt's boys," the director called over. "I want to see fur in this shot."

They stood around pretending like they were looking at the waves while the camera filmed them and then they were finally allowed to go into the surf and do their thing. They had to make retake after retake because either the director didn't like the shot or the surf wasn't just right. Stone snickered as the fat warthog began yelling at the water as if he could direct the sea to do his will. They finally finished later that afternoon.

"Good job boys!" the rabbit said as he ushered them off site and into the parking lot as he handed them each an envelope. "Here's your pay."

"Hey mate!" Cooper yelled as he reached into the envelope. "There's only ninety-five bucks in here! You promised us two hundred each!"

"You got paid two hundred, that's what's left after we had to pay union dues and all those other incidental fees!" the rabbit laughed. "That's the cost of doing business."

"What a rip off dude," Reggie complained as they walked into the parking lot.

"Hey pup!" a deep voice called. Stone looked up to see an older fennec fox in a black bowling shirt and tan cargo shorts standing next to a cooler full of pawpsicles. "Yeah, you fox! Come over here."

Stone walked over to the other fox. "So they stiffed ya," the fox said. "You shoulda read the contract."

"What contract? We didn't sign anything brah."

"Wait, you were filmed for a movie without them at least getting you three yahoos to sign a release?"

"No mate," Cooper answered. "We just shook paws."

"Give me those envelopes," the fox said with a grin. "Uncle Finn is going to work some magic for you."

They watched as the fox named Finn climbed into the back of an old van which had a mural of a barbarian timber wolf holding a fainted white vixen painted on the side.

"Gnarly art work," Reggie said. "I wouldn't mind a van like that."

A few moments later the fox jumped out wearing a blue suit and holding a canvas briefcase. "Stay here, I'll do the talkin," he said with a grin. They watched as the small fox walked towards the film crew.

"You think we'll ever see our money again?" Reggie asked.

There was shouting and snarling coming from the large tent, followed by more silence and then even more shouting. Finally an angry rabbit followed the fox out of the tent and towards the three friends.

The fox walked over to the surfers. "Okay, we've settled a thousand each. All you three have to do is sign the papers."

"A thousand bucks!" all three called out as they reached for the pen at the same time.

The rabbit sullenly watched each of them sign where the small fox indicated and Finn turned the papers over in exchange for three envelopes. He chuckled as the rabbit stormed back to the tent.

"Hey, mine's only got eight hundred!" Reggie exclaimed after tearing his envelope open. "I'm short two hundred bucks!"

"That's my commission," Finn laughed with a shrug. "I already took out my twenty percent from each of your envelopes, that's standard rate for an agent. So quit complaining, I delivered you yahoo's six hundred more then you were expecting."

"I'm not complaining mate," Cooper grinned as he stared down at his paw full of cash. "Paid and a movie star!"

"Yeah, about that kit," the older fox replied as he loaded his cooler back into the van and handed them each a pawpsicles. "I saw them filming and I don't think I'd brag about being in this flick."

"That bad?" Stone asked.

"That bad? Yeah, it's going to really be that bad!" Finn laughed as he climbed into his van and flipped on his sunglasses. "Now caio!"

The van backfired a few times as he pulled out of the parking lot. Stone's ears flicked as he heard the other fox's deep voice on the phone, "Yo Wilde, I just made six hundred smackers in less than fifteen minutes and I did it legit!"

The younger fox watched the van as it drove off into the sunset.


	5. The Nor'easter

**Chapter 5: The Nor'easter**

* * *

 **Wicked weather batters the coast and our friends need rescuing.**

* * *

"Blimey, it's bloody cold out there mate!" the wallaby exclaimed as he shook off his black heavy wool winter coat and sat down on the battered old sofa. The wind baffled their camper again, causing it to slightly rock and the sound of rain lashing on the roof almost drowned out his voice. Cooper wanted to laugh at the sight of the little tan muzzle that appeared from within the blanket covered wicker basket which the fennec fox used for his bed.

"Is our shower still standing brah?" Stone asked his best friend as the first his head and finally his ears popped out of his warm cocoon. The fox's ears quickly laid flat on top of his head and his brown eyes looked around nervously, flinching with each shake of the camper.

"Bloody hell!" Cooper yelped as a huge crashing noise was heard from outside.

The fox leaped out of his basket and ran to a box, hopping on top of it so he could peer out the window. "The big oak just lost a limb!" he yelled. "I fell right where the screen tent would have been if we hadn't taken it down last night bro!"

"Well mate, at least we will have plenty of firewood after this passes," the wallaby sarcastically replied. "That is if we survive!"

The camper shook again as the wind baffled its side and then thunder boomed, causing both friends to give a startled jump. To make matters worse, the power flickered on and off, before going completely out.

"Maybe we should have done what the sheriff said and went to the emergency shelter at the church? It's getting awfully icy out there!"

"Too late now mate. At least Big Al came out and helped us chain down the camper before the weather came."

"I know, but I figured that the surf would be awesome and I was right until this storm really hit," Stone said as he climbed into his basket and after a few turns, curled up and pulled the blankets over him again.

"Can't hide from this storm," Cooper chuckled to his friend who had disappeared with only the tip of his tail showing. "It is getting cold in here even though the heater is cranked up full, at least the propane tank outside is now full."

The storm had swept in from the northeast bringing heavy rains, bitter cold icy winds, and choppy surf. Their little camp was somewhat protected behind the dunes, but now flooding was a concern. Cooper turned up their battery run weather radio and it wasn't the daily surf report they were listening to today, but the broadcaster who was talking about something called a "weather bomb."

The little camper shook again and there was the sound of something scraping along the outside. "What was that!" the fox yelped, his ears were now standing straight up and his tail was tucked between his legs.

"I'd say our shower just lost its roof mate," the wallaby grumbled. "It bloody well might be in Savannah Square by now."

The wind continued to howl and the rain seemed to fall harder as more lightning and thunder joined nature's ongoing chaos. Stone retreated back into his basket again and burrowed back under his blankets.

"I hope that will float Stoney," the wallaby laughed. "I may be joining you in a minute."

There was a new sound, a heavy pounding on the side of the camper. It took a few moments before Cooper realized someone was at the door. He peeked out the window only to see a large mammal in a bright yellow raincoat staring back. "Open the door idiot!" the very wet black bear growled.

"It's Deputy Ben!" the wallaby happily yelled as he tried to open the door.

"He won't fit in here brah!" the fox yelled back as the door opened and the big bear stuck his head in, there was ice hanging from the brim of his hat.

"I figured you two dunderheads were too dumb to come in out of the rain," he growled. "Get your things together, I'm taking you the shelter and hurry before this gets worse."

He watched the fox and the wallaby throw some clothes into duffle bags and then grab their surf boards. "Surfers!" he snorted. "The world ends but they still worry about their boards. Get your jackets on now!"

Cooper slipped his black heavy wood jacket back on as Stone pulled out an orange down stuffed ski jacket that was so big it swallowed him whole. "Where did you get that?" the bear called out.

"A thrift store in Tundratown," Stone replied. With the hood pulled down, all you could see was the very point of his muzzle. "It was on sale really cheap."

As he stepped outside, the wind almost lifted him off the ground as he yelped. A huge yellow arm grabbed him and carried him to the large patrol car, where he was unceremoniously dumped into the backseat still clutching his board. Cooper was dumped next to him before the large bear climbed into the driver's seat. "Buckle up boys, this is going to be one nasty ride!" he growled.

The patrol car was a huge SUV that was almost as big as the camper they left behind while the deputy slowly drove along the road, weaving around fallen trees and debris that littered the roadway. The bear let out a continuous string of curses as he drove carefully through the lashing rain. "You're missing the drive mate," Cooper chuckled as he looked at the little fennec fox, who had pulled his big ears over his eyes.

"I'm not missing anything Cooper," the fox whined back. "At least nothing I want to see bro!"

When they finally reached the church, Ben helped them into the building where they found most of their neighbors. "Well look who decided to show up!" a meerkat called from across the gym. Their friend Reggie was sitting on an oversized old cot with his board stowed underneath.

Cooper took a seat next to the meerkat and tossed his gear and board under the cot. "So Reggie when did you show up here mate?" he asked.

"When the wind picked up," the meerkat replied with a grin. "Some of us are smart enough to come out of the rain."

He watched as Stone hopped up on a nearby oversize cot and after turning around a few times, he curled up on the large pillow and pulled a blanket over him as he glumly looked over at his friends. "What's with Stoney?" he heard Reggie ask Cooper.

"He doesn't like high winds because of those ears of his, he's afraid he'll soar away!" the wallaby chuckled. Stone frowned and turned his head away from them.

"Sorry mate, I was just joking," Cooper added as he hopped down and walked over to where his friend was curled up. "Your acting dodgy mate, are you okay?"

"I could have got us killed. It was my bright idea of playing in the waves and not listening to everyone else, we could have died out there."

"She'll be right mate. Don't be a drongo, I'm a grown bloke and I'd have left if I didn't want to stay."

"What the heck is a drongo?" Reggie asked, before seeing the look the wallaby gave him and he then decided it was time for him to shut up for a while.

"What is a drongo?" Stone finally snickered. "That's a new one!"

"Blimey, I surrounded by yobbos!" Cooper laughed. "A drongo is someone like you two blokes, you know stupid."

"What the heck is a yabbo?" Reggie asked as his friends laughed.

The next morning was cold and damp, but the winds had passed and it took a couple days before it warmed up and the road was clear enough for Stone and Cooper to return to their campsite. They found that the camper was intact, but it was surrounded by deep puddles that reached up to the fox's waist in some spots and the driftwood shack that contained their shower was mostly blown over, the tin roof was mangled in the nearby trees.

"Well it could have been worse brah," the fox sighed. "We can rebuild the shower easy enough. It needed to be rebuilt anyways because we didn't do that great of a job to start with."

The wallaby hopped his way down the trail towards the sea and returned a few minutes later. "Hey mate, surf's up!" he laughed. "Let's hope our steamers didn't blow away."

The fox grinned as he opened the camper's door and dug out his wet suit. "We can rebuild tomorrow!" the little fox laughed to his best friend as he grabbed his board. "There's always tomorrow!"


	6. The BIG GUY Cometh!

**Chapter 6: The BIG GUY Cometh!**

* * *

 **A lesson on the beach as a new rival arises.**

* * *

"Welcome to the Gold Coast!" Big Bobby "Bling" Khnum said to the hippo in the white collared shirt and khaki slacks. The real estate agent's eyes moved to the larger mammal's muscular arms and at the expensive gold watch that was on this left arm. "As you know Mister Mvubu, we have the best beach front property in Zootopia. This condominium has the best views in the area, only the best for the city's best."

The condominium was huge, with four bedrooms, a dining room, a great room, and a full kitchen. All of which was large enough for the hippo sized mammals and special reinforced floors kept the sound of their larger hoofs from being heard below. The walls were painted a soothing aqua green with seashell and aquatic motifs.

The hippo walked out onto the sturdy balcony, he looked down first at the beach and then over at the ram dressed in a pink tee shirt and a light tan suit. "Do any of the properties have private beaches?" he asked.

The ram stepped over to where the hippo was looking and there was a crowd of several mammals of various sizes on the beach below. Many were sunbathing, playing ball, building sandcastles, or wading in the surf. "The city does not have any private beaches," Big Bobby tentatively began to answer.

"It's…well…just look down there, are those beach bums?" the hippo snorted. "Do I have to share my view with them?"

The ram looked over to where the larger mammal was pointing and saw three very small mammals sitting on the sand with their small boards. "Those three?" he asked. "They're surfers, well actually the larger deep water surfers call them spongers or boogers because they use those smaller boards that are called boogie boards or bodyboards, but in all fairness because of their size they have to use the smaller boards. I can tell you that the things they can do on those little boards is amazing to watch."

"But one of them is a fox! You know what they say about foxes."

"That's Stone Kole and he's now the city's four time surfing champion for his class size. The wallaby next to him is his pal Cooper and that meerkat is Reggie."

"I've never heard of boogie boards before? I've heard about the surfers and have seen them on television, it seems like that sport is big business."

"Yeah the money is with the medium sized surfers, they get the bigger prizes in their competitions. Then there's the cash from sponsors and endorsements, quite a few of them make really good money. Everyone knows about the big wave riders, but the little guys don't get as much attention or make as much money."

"Well at least they don't have to worry about sharks that close to the shore!" the larger mammal scoffed.

"When you're that size, you have to worry about seagulls and pelicans. They're worse than sharks for small mammals."

"I didn't think about that. Still, I'm not sure I want to expose my family to those kinds of mammals."

"Okay, well then Mister Mvubu how about a nice condo by the Oasis?"

"That's lake water, my wife wants something on the beach," the hippo sighed. "I've learned a long time ago that what Shelia wants, she gets. It makes life a lot easier for me."

"I'll tell you what, let's go down to the beach and I'll introduce you to the boys!"

He watched as the hippo looked back down at the beach and seemed to be weighing his options. "Okay, let's go met the riffraff," he finally grumbled.

Reggie was the first to see the huge mammal walking besides Big Bob as they walked across the sand towards them. "Hey guys, we've got company," he hissed to his friends. Both the wallaby and the fennec fox stood up and faced the two older adults.

"Stoney, Reggie, and Cooper!" the ram called out to them. "This is Mister Mvubu and he's thinking of buying a condominium."

The fennec fox looked way up at the huge hippo. "It's nice to meet you sir," he said. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Mvubu the Mangler?"

The hippo looked down at the fox and grinned before laughing, "That was so long ago, I didn't think anyone would remember!"

"My mother used to be a maid at some of the smaller motels on the Old Strip and while she was working, my brother Stormy and I would sometimes stay with my uncle. He was a big wresting fan and we'd watch the matches on television for hours. I remember when you beat Abdullah the Camel after he hit you with that folding chair."

"You know that was a fun match! I was supposed to only wrestle Abdullah and his brother Hussein, but the "Iron Rhino" decided to get into the act too."

Reaching down, the hippo picked up the fennec fox and brought him up to eye level. "He wore that iron sheath over his horn, was that real?" the fox asked.

"Tin! Just cheap tin, but it looked good didn't it?"

"You wore those gaudy sequined capes too, were those really jewels?"

"Just fakes, rhinestones that my wife applied using one of those cheap machines she bought from a television advertisement."

"I wanted to be a wrestler when I grew up. But, there wasn't a league my size that would take foxes, so I took up surfing instead."

"I like this kit!" the hippo laughed to the grinning ram. "We'll take the place!"

"Speaking of surf mate," Cooper yelled up to his friend. "The waves are now hitting just right!"

The fox looked first down at the wallaby, then over at the sea, and finally at the grinning hippo. "Well I guess I've got business with Bob," the hippo chuckled as he lowered the fox back onto the sand. "Have fun!"

"Thanks brah!" Stone yelled as he ran to get his board. "I was nice meeting you sir!"

The hippo watched as the three little mammals ran into the surf with their boards before slapping the ram on the back. "They seem to be great guys," he chuckled again. "So what do you say we talk business over lunch and then I'm going down to the shop and see if they have one of those boogie boards my calf's size?"

xxx

Down the beach, a brown furred slender body mammal in a light blue golf shirt and khaki plants looked with beady black eyes over towards the larger black and white rabbit. The middle aged mongoose with the red fez scratched his small ear and there was a frown on his pointed snout. "Okay, tell me again who my son's main revivals are?"

The rabbit in the dark grey suit adjusted his glasses before opening his book. "Yes sir," he replied. "The now four times champion is a fennec fox named Stone Kole, he stands about a foot and a half tall with his ears flat, has tan fur with a white chest. He's really good and constantly pulls in high scores of his technique. Enthusiastic, personable and very outgoing, his personality makes him very popular with the fans. He lives outside of the city during the off-season in Seaside…"

"You mean that little hellhole over on the other side of the straits from the city? So much real estate potential wasted. I once tried to work out a land deal with the locals, but they all had a meltdown with the idea of having a hotel in the area. Damn bunch of artist and hippies live there! Does this FOX have any weaknesses that can be exploited, such as bad habits like alcoholism?"

"Not that we found sir. He has a littermate in prison for selling nip and his mother is a maid over at the Blue Parrot Motel on the Strip. No record of his father, the best we can tell is that he left before the kits were born."

"Typical fox!" the mongoose snorted. "Run off after you get your girlfriend pregnant instead of finding a job to help support your family. What about the kit, does he have a girlfriend or is he player too?"

"He was seen kissing a wildcat after the last competition, but he seems to be a player. Kole has limited finances, most of the prize and promotional money he earns he either spends or send to his mother. No record of drugs and as for drinking, he has been seen drunk often but does not seem an alcoholic."

"Didn't he do some promotional work for that awful beer, what was that brand?"

"Brown Pinenut Ale, sir. It's very popular with the squirrel and rabbit populations."

The rabbit waited until the mongoose waved his paw before he continued. "Currently the second best surfer is a meerkat named Reggie Yossarian who is very skilled and might surpass Stone Kole one day. He's very outgoing to the point of being…well, verbally obnoxious. The runt of his family's last litter and his parents are middle class workers in the Rainforest District. The meerkat doesn't seem to be into drugs, but does drink and fraternize with the females."

"The wallaby?" the mongoose asked as he picked up and sipped his martini. "He's Bill's youngest, the proverbial black roo of the family."

"Yes sir. He seems to live with Stone and although there are rumors that he is gay, there only seems to be a close friendship between the two. His father is a real estate developer on Outback Island, Cooper has five brothers and two sisters…"

"I know his family," the mongoose grumbled as he stood and carried his drink to the end of the deck to watch his youngest son practicing in the surf under the eye of a watchful coach. "For some reason that I don't understand, Bonaparte wants to pursue this sport. I expect him to be like his brothers, the best in his field and I've been told he has enormous talent. It seems that the only one standing between him and being the champion is of all things just a fox!"


	7. The Darkside of the Beach

**Chapter 7: The Darkside of the Beach**

* * *

 **Sometimes being a beach fox can be hard and Stone has mastered the art of survival.**

* * *

Being a small fennec fox has both its benefits and its drawbacks, one of which includes you are often mistaken as a puppy by mammals not that familiar with your species. The advantage of this is that you can sometimes talk your way into getting a children's meal discount. The disadvantage is when you run into some concerned larger mammal who thinks you are lost from your mommy. In all fairness, Stone Kole had more than once played the poor little lost and hungry puppy routine to his advantage by conning some good soul out of a meal. "I can't help it, it's in my DNA," he would tell his disapproving best friend Cooper when confronted by the more honest wallaby. "After all, I am a fox!"

Another drawback was that he was carded at every bar where he wasn't already known. More than once, a bartender or bouncer would try to confiscate his ID card as a forgery. Then there were the beach bullies, often young teenage prey animals who mistook him for a little helpless puppy and would try to steal his board or shove the little fox around some until he "could lay down the law".

Finally there were the perverts, both male and female, who were attracted to him because of his child like looks and these were the ones he hated the most. He had learned early in life never to travel alone, even into a public restroom. He knew that his hardworking single mother had taken advantage of some of these mammals when times were lean, it was a vicious reality of being a poor fox that sometimes you did things that you weren't proud of just to survive. He swore when he became old enough that his mother would never have to do that again and always sent some of his earnings to her.

"Cutie," Stone sighed to Cooper one day after an elderly nearsighted, but sweet, armadillo had just left him. "I'm tired of being called cutie!"

"Yeah mate, it didn't stop you from accepting that lime pawpsicle you're sucking on," the wallaby observed as he rolled his eyes at his best friend's comments.

The only response that the fox could muster was a sly smirk and a shrug.

Being cute often worked to his advantage and the fox learned to exploit it with the fans he met, especially at the bars. He would crank up the maximum cuteness, along with the bubbly surfer slang, to con drinks and even meals from his fans. He didn't feel like he was using anyone, after all they got his time in exchange for food and drink. He didn't like it when Cooper would compare his attitude with that of a prostitute.

"You're the king of the beach con," Karen once told him. The sexy sand cat was one of his many friends that he had who seemed immune to his foxy charms. In fact if he was the king of the con, she was the queen of flirt. So many times he thought he had seduced her into agreeing to go with him back to his tent or to her place, only to have her slip out of his reach and leave him empty pawed and disappointed. "Maybe next time stud," she would purr.

He tried to forget about her but no matter how hard, he was sooner than later drawn back to the chase. Cooper pointed out that he liked "the hunt" too much and would be disappointed if he actually caught and bedded her. "It's a chance I'm willing to take brah!" the fox would laugh, but he knew Cooper was right.

Life on the beach wasn't always glamorous like in those popular movies of the late 50's, where everyone surfed all day and sang songs all night. The best surfing areas were staked out and claimed by the pros and the locals, who often got into conflicts with tourists during the peak summer season. When there were too many boards in the water, tempers would flair and fights would break out and that's exactly what happened one hot summer afternoon.

"So you're telling me you didn't see anything?" the grey rabbit in the police uniform asked Stone in a skeptical voice as she stood over him. He was sitting on his beach blanket waxing his board, while sipping a small bottle of water and staring out at the waves. The fox was trying his best to keep his ears erect and look unconcerned as she grilled him.

"Look officer…" he began to answer, but hesitated momentarily and then looked up at her name badge before continuing. He had a bad feeling about her, for some reason she looked familiar. "Look Officer Hopps, I just saw the crowd. I don't really have that great of a view from down here do I? You should know being that, after all you're not that much taller." He smelled her agitation after that comment.

"Things tend to get a little edgy out there, don't they?" the police officer sweetly asked.

 _Now here comes the good cop routine,_ the fox thought. "Yeah, sometimes our passions get the best of us," he replied. "Someone cuts into your wave or some bonehead pulls a dumb stunt, soon angry words are exchanged before fists begin to fly."

"You smaller surfers don't seem to have that many conflicts as the big wave surfers," the officer observed. Her scent had changed as she calmed herself down, she kind of oddly now smelled slightly like a fox.

"We get pushed around sometimes, but we do our thing closer to the shore and in areas where the big board surf isn't often that rad. We mostly have to watch out for the kits playing in the surf."

"So then, can you tell me about the local surfers? They say that the fight began when a local group of surfers started beating up on some other surfers over, what do they call it? Oh yes, ownership of the beach."

Stone drank from his bottle and looked out over the sea again. "When there are too many boards in the water on a day like today, it isn't a good thing," he sighed as he carefully answered her question. "One thing will lead to another, I've even seen surfers get into fights with body surfers…you know the seals."

"So paradise has an ugly side. Sex, drugs, booze and loud music makes an explosive combination, add in young adult hormones and you got a cocktail for disaster."

"Something like that and that's why I avoid being here during spring break season."

"Are you still going to tell me you didn't see anything?" she pressed. "Come on, you had to see someone. In fact, I think you saw more than you're telling me."

"I wasn't paying attention!" Stone snapped back with a low growl while trying not to bare his fangs at her. "Why do you cops always pick on us foxes? That smacks of discrimination, even profiling to me!"

"Thank you for your cooperation Mister Kole," she icily replied as she snapped her small notepad closed and angrily walked away towards the crowd.

The fox sat on his towel and sipped his water again, she was correct and he had seen the whole thing. The young coyote pup who started the fight was inexperienced and shouldn't have been trying to surf in that area off the beach. He had accidentally cut a local nicknamed Salty off, causing the big bull calf to wipe out. It was a beginner's mistake, inexperience with his board and a lack of understanding of the etiquette of the waves that had caused the accident. The bull showed his immaturity and went too far, he shouldn't have beat up the pup like he did. When the coyote's companions tried to help, the brawl began.

"You know you should treat my partner a little nicer," a male voice spoke from behind him. The fennec fox turned and looked up at a red fox in a police uniform. "I remember you! Last time we met Officer Hoops and I had driven over to Seaside to pick up a briefcase full of cash and drugs. If I recall right the cash was short too, about the price of a roasted chicken and some groceries."

Stone's ears dropped and he groaned as he stood to face the larger fox, who was looking down at him with a smirk on this muzzle. A pair of those mirrored sun glasses, which were so popular with the cops, was perched on top of his pointy muzzle hiding his eyes. The fennec fox didn't need to sniff the air to realize the larger fox was the explanation for the rabbit's odd scent.

"I still didn't see anything!"

"Heh, I learned a long time ago not to argue with a fennec fox. Those unknown surfers did beat up a couple of those yotes bad and put that pup in the hospital. Beach code or not, there's going to be hell to pay later tonight, or tomorrow, and you know it. Coyote packs and tribes always take care of their own."

Stone looked down at the sand, his ears remained flat on his head and his tail curled close to his body. "I still didn't see anything…" he began again.

"There are plenty of security cameras that did, so your testimony isn't really that important," the red fox shrugged as he cut the smaller fox's words off. "But a word of advice from one fox to another, if I was you I'd find somewhere else to practice until this blows over."

Stone nodded and looked away.

The officer started walking away, but stopped when he spotted several curious locals watching them. "Play along with me kit," he whispered to the smaller fox, knowing that the fennec fox's ears were as sharp as his partners.

"What?" the smaller fox began to ask.

"SO YOU DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING!" the cop loudly snarled at him as he returned to stand over the fennec fox. "YOU WANT ME TO BELIVE THAT STORY? IF I FIND OUT THAT YOU'RE LYING TO ME, I'LL DRAG YOUR TAIL DOWNTOWN!"

"I TOLD YOU THAT I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING!" Stone growled back. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"YOU'RE ON NOTICE FOX!" the red fox snapped back while lowering his sunglasses and winking. "I'M KEEPING MY EYES ON YOU AND IF I SEE YOU EVEN JAYWALK ACROSS THE ROAD, YOU'VE HAD IT!"

Wheeling, the cop stormed down the beach toward his partner, leaving the smaller fox behind. There was a lot of talk going on between a few of the local surfers, before one of them approached Stone. He was a scrawny wolf in a dirty tee shirt that had a surf board logo on it and he was also wearing a pair of green tropical swim shorts.

"You did good Stoney," the wolf said. "Remember to keep to yourself or else."

"Don't threaten me Sandfly!" the tiny fox growled back. "I know the code of the beach and I don't squeal." The larger wolf nodded and began to turn, but the fox added, "If you try to mess with either me or Cooper, I'll bite your face off!"

The scrawny young wolf nicknamed Sandfly smirked down at the much smaller fox. "You probably would or at least try to gnaw on my shin bone," he chuckled. "Just stay on your part of the beach fox!"

"You do the same wolf!" Stone growled back.

The wolf turned back towards the fox and began to show his fangs only to hear a loud cough from above. Looking up, he saw the figure of a huge muscular hippo watching him from a condominium's balcony. "Okay, we're square for now pipsqueak!" he said before walking away.

The small fox watched the wolf leave and then turn and nodded at his large hippo friend before sitting on his towel again to watch the surf. _Maybe it's time to go back to Seaside?_ he pondered to himself.


	8. It's Not Our Way

**Chapter 8: It's Not Our Way**

* * *

 **Trouble comes to the beach and Stone is dragged along for the ride**

* * *

The night after the fight on the beach, a pawful of coyotes did appear and led by a lean elder in a colorful striped poncho who just sat cross pawed in the sand and stared silently at the sea. The local surfers, all in their late teens and early adulthood, boasted in their youthful inexperience that they were going to defend their turf and they showed up with knives and baseball bats ready for a fight. They also appeared to outnumber the coyotes two to one.

"Stay put!" Cooper had told Stone earlier as they sat in the city campground near their fire. "This isn't our fight, what Salty did was wrong and he should have known better." The fox sat down in the hammock and sipped a cup of tea that the wallaby had brewed over the flames.

"Okay, but if Salty, Sandfly, and the others win this brawl we'll never hear the end of it!" the fennec fox replied.

"Stoney! Cooper!" Someone called to them from down the campground and they looked over to see a young teenage wildcat kitten running towards them. Little Tammy and her family lived in the campground during the peak season because it was the only place that her parents could afford near the surf shop where they worked. "Reggie went down to watch the fight!" she cried out. "I told him not to go!"

"Aw shit," Stone sighed. "That meerkat's got sand for brains. How long ago did he leave?"

"Just a few minutes ago," she whimpered. "Mom told me to tell you so you can stop him before he gets too far down the beach."

Stone looked at Cooper, who was now standing and looking down towards the dunes with a concerned look. "Cooper, just stay here!" Stone growled as he took off running. He could hear the surf rolling in and pounding on the beach, the sounds of music from The Strand, and something else. Ignoring the nagging feeling that he was being watched, he kept running down the trail and onto the beach itself. Down the beach he could see the crowd of local surfers walking toward the smaller group of what appeared to be unconcerned coyotes.

Fennec foxes are renowned for not only their sense of smell, but also their hearing. His oversized ears twitched as the heard something almost silently creeping towards him and he turned to face the dunes only to see the two lean, but muscular coyotes stalking him. "Shhh little brother," one of the coyotes whispered, before pouncing onto the fox and clamping his large paw over the fox's muzzle. "Don't make a sound!"

The small fox was bodily hauled behind the dune and his eyes widened when he saw a large group of coyotes of various sizes and shapes hidden in the shadows, one of whom had a panicked small meerkat in his clutches. A pair of smaller coyotes, who obviously had either fox or jackal blood in them, took the meerkat and began to move back toward the campground. The older coyote who held Stoney, hesitated before carrying him with the group that was creeping toward the surfers. "Live and learn little brother," the coyote barely whispered in his ear.

Stone watched as the elderly coyote stood and leaned on his cane as he silently faced the group of locals. He appeared unconcerned when Salty began yelling at him, the large bull calf was carrying a baseball bat which he swung around and shook at the group of coyotes.

"This is our turf!" the bull bellowed. "It's our surf and our beach, so you shagfurs need to get off of it!" It was obvious that the bull had been drinking and was nervous, his yelling was more for his own bravado then to scare the silent group of coyotes. Two of whom appeared to be wolves or at least large coywolfs flinched when the young bull used the derogatory name for a coyote.

Stone felt the coyote who held him tighten his hold when he heard his elder being called that name, but he continued to slowly stalk towards the group of surfers. In the back of the group of locals, Stone saw Sandfly suddenly stiffen and look nervously around. It was quite clear that the skinny wolf didn't like that word either and that he was also sniffing for something. Most of his "pals" were mostly prey animals of various sizes and he was the only wolf in the group.

"You are mistaken my friend," the elderly coyote replied. "The land and the sea belongs to the Great Spirit, it is his gift to all of us! I did not come here tonight to fight but to talk."

The bull stepped back monetarily when he heard the coyote's words, but true to the nature of a bully he swung his bat toward the smaller and older canid. Stone gasped as the bat came down toward the coyote's head, but the elder didn't flinch and instead caught the bat in his paw, keeping the viscous blow from landing. The bull's eyes widened when he realized the elder's strength. "Get them guys!" he yelled.

Before any of the locals could move there was a single bloodcurdling howl from the elder, making them pause in fear. Sandfly was the first to smell them, it is said that a wolf sees with his nose long before he can see with his eyes. "Guys look!" the wolf barked.

Like shadows, a large group of coyotes rose from the dunes around them and it was clear to Stoney that the surfers were outnumbered at least three to one. Unlike the locals, none of the coyotes carried a weapon. "We came to talk and not hurt them," the coyote who held him explained as he released the small fox's muzzle. "But fists can hurt if necessary."

Surrounded, the local surfers hesitated and clustered together. "Get them!" the bull bellowed again, but no one moved as they stared wide eyed at the surrounding coyotes.

"No one will be hurt tonight," the elder stated as he twisted the baseball bat from the angry and now almost incoherent bull's hoofs. "Such anger is not over this land, you are their leader so tell them why you lead them with such anger."

The bull turned toward the elder and cried out, "My father died because of your kind!"

"Your father died with honor. His death and that of my grandpup was a tragic accident, nothing more or less."

"He promised to come home for the holidays! Instead he died out there on that oil rig, he should have come home!"

"Your father was their supervisor, he led their pack and the pack always takes care of each other. He tried to save his crew and he did save most of them."

Tears were running down the bull's snout as he looked around at the coyotes. "He was safe and went back, he should have stayed safe and came back home to me!" the bull wailed.

"You led these others, your friends," the coyote replied. "Would you not to try to save them from such a fate if you could?"

The bull looked towards the cluster of surfers who were now looking back at him. He sniffled and wiped his eyes with his tee shirt sleeve before answering. "Yes," he mumbled. "I would."

"Then you are truly like your father," the elder replied. "Next time someone accidentally causes you harm, be like your father and be a leader. Forgive and teach, care and love, they were the paths he took in his life."

The bull didn't respond but looked down at the sand. Stone could smell his shame and sadness as he stood there.

"We are finished," the older coyote simply said and turned to walk away, but hesitated and then stooped to pick up a seashell, which he handed to Salty. "This is a token to remind you of the night when you truly began the journey from being a calf to bull."

Almost as silently as they had come, the coyotes slipped away into the dunes leaving the fennec fox on the beach, along with the group of larger surfers. The bull looked over at the fox and blinked a few times, before turning to his friends. "Come on guys, I need a drink," the bull sighed. Then hesitating, he added, "You coming Stoney?"

"Thanks, but I better get back to my friends," the fox replied. "They will get worried, maybe another time?"

"Sure fox," the bull replied with a thin smile. "You're always welcome around here."

The small fox watched as the group walked towards the strand, leaving him alone. Finally he turned and with a shake of his head walked down the beach toward the campground.

"Well that was intense!" a familiar voice spoke from behind him, causing the fox to jump. "Sorry, I didn't think even another fox could sneak up on a fennec fox."

He turned to see the uniformed red fox standing there in the darkness. The officer was wearing an armored vest over his blue police uniform. "You again!" Stone grumbled.

"Yep," Nick Wilde replied with a smirk. "Thank the Lamb above that the SWAT team had enough wolves to keep the rhinos and warthogs at bay while the coyotes worked things out. You know those rhinos, always charging in with batons swinging!"

"I think I learned enough tonight not to judge a mammal from what we think his species will do, but by whom he is as an individual."

"Ah, the old saying goes not to judge a book by its cover. Words of wisdom from a fox of all mammals, you keep talking like that and you'll ruin our reputation!"

"You want a drink Red?"

"Alas, Ears I have a pile of paperwork to do! Good night Mister Kole."

"Yeah, you too!" the smaller fox replied as he watched the larger fox walk down the beach toward the waiting rabbit.


	9. A Mother's Remorse

**Chapter 9: A Mother's Remorse**

* * *

 **Stone has dinner with his mother and discovers something important about her past.**

* * *

Growing up, it seemed to Stone Kole that his mother Susan was always working. She held down several jobs at once, employed as a maid for a couple of the smaller motels and sometimes a night clerk at another. Being a single mother and a small fox was a challenge, simply because there just weren't well paying regular job opportunities available for her. He and his brother Storm grew up always being shuffled from different family member or friends almost on a daily bases while she worked, but their mother was always there to tuck them in for bed every night. Life was tough for both he and his brother, but they both knew she was doing her best and they loved her deeply.

The young pups had learned not to ask for too much, but to take what was offered. When she gave him his first board for his fourteenth birthday, he was excited until he saw the pain she was in that night. It was obvious what she had done to raise the money to buy the board and Stone wished that she hadn't gone that far to "earn" the cash from that perverted warthog. His brother Storm was furious and soon after that, the warthog just disappeared. When he asked his littermate if he knew what had happened, the Storm just shrugged and said that the warthog should have kept his paws to himself. It was years later when Stone finally realized that this was when his brother began working for the gangster Salazar, his brother's first steps down a road of crime which would led him to jail.

"So Stoney, what exactly is going on between you and that sand cat?" his mother called to him from the tiny kitchen inside her small apartment. Her "kitchen" consisted of a propane stove and a small refrigerator. There was an oversized pot on the stove's burner and she stood on a stool so she could reach and stir its contents.

"Karen?" the fox replied with a smirk. "We're just friends." He grimaced because even he could tell from his voice that he wasn't telling the truth.

"Don't lie to you mother!" she laughed. Her laughter was always music to his ears, something that he missed when he moved out. "I saw that interview and you leaping off the podium to kiss her!"

He looked over at his mother, she was still petite and young looking despite the fact she was in her early forties. The haggard look he remembered she used to have was now long since gone since she no longer had two additional mouths to feed and didn't have to constantly work. He sniffed deeply at the smell of the stew that she was cooking and it made his mouth water. "Everyone saw that interview dear," she added with a grin. "So is my pup in love with a cat?"

"Mother! Please, you raised me to be a genitalmammal and as I said, we're just friends."

"Ah, I see…just friends. Your tail gives away more than your mouth does my dear."

His ears wilted in embarrassment when he realized that when she mentioned Karen, his tail began wagging and he didn't even know it. "Damn, betrayed by my own body!" he snapped.

She laughed at him again, before stirring the pot. "You never were able to keep secrets from others, unlike your brother." Her ears dropped at the mention of Storm and she sighed.

He looked at her and decided to quickly change the subject away from his brother. "Okay I confess! I really…really like Karen!" he told her, grinning as her ears shot up and she quickly looked back at him.

"I know that she's a cat, but still…" he continued.

"There's nothing wrong with cats!" his mother interjected. Then she grinned and asked the question he knew was coming. "Have you two mated?"

"Mom! Geeze, I can't believe that my own mother is asking me such a question!"

"You didn't answer my dear! Should I take that as a yes?"

"No, we have not! She's not that kind of girl!"

"Oh, I see," his mother replied, her ears flicking slightly. Stone wanted to groan, he didn't mean to make it sound the way it came out. He knew his mother once had a reputation for being "that kind of girl." She had gotten pregnant and their father ran off afterwards or so he was told by everyone but her. She never said much about their father, but that it was " _just one of those things_ ".

"Well how's Cooper doing?" she asked. "Has he found anyone yet?"

"Cooper is just a dingy as ever. Hey, did you know he was gay?" Stone replied. He waited to see if his mother acted surprised, but she didn't.

"Of course I did dear," she laughed. "Everyone knows that!"

Her ears shot up when she heard him muttering to himself, "Why was I the last to figure that out?"

"You're kidding me? You didn't know that? A while back, I was even wondering if you two were lovers."

"Mom! I'm not gay!"

"I'd still love you if you were darling," she replied with a smile as she set a couple of bowls and some silverware on the small card table that she had pulled out for them to dine on. "I love you even though you've got the hots for a cat."

Stone's ears blushed and she couldn't help but chuckle at his discomfort, in her mind he was still her little puppy. In his youth he always sought her approval, always unsure of himself and willing to follow his brother's lead by constantly trailing behind Storm. Then he discovered surfing, something Storm had no interest in doing. For Stone it consumed him every weekend and summer, he would run down to the shoreline to watch the surfers. At fourteen years old, he was determined to buy his first board and tried his best to raise the money by doing odd jobs for the neighbors and the businesses on the Strip. Try as he might, he never could earn enough money and then one night after a terrible teasing by Storm, she found him huddled by a tree on the beach in tears. That was the night when she decided that she would do whatever it took to buy him a board and she was never ashamed for what she did after she saw the look of joy on his face when she gave it to him. Now her little puppy was in his early twenties, still childlike in so many ways and grown up in some many others. He was a four time surfing champion, who was just excited when he hit the water as he was when he was just a teenager.

She brought the pot to the table, for their dinner she had made his favorite meal a savory shredded chicken stew with potatoes, carrots, and onions. His eyes rolled upwards and his tail wagged as he ate a spoonful of the stew. "Do you like it?" she asked as she passed him a loaf of crusty bread. "You aren't eating like you should, you've lost weight."

"Mom, of course I eat! He protested as he hungrily shoved a slice of the bread into his mouth and tried to chew. "Muffruh eaffring jiff fffine."

"Too many veggies and not enough protein!" she sighed. "Cooper isn't the best chef for you…he's too herbivore. You need more meat in your diet. After all you're still my growing puppy." She giggled at the look he gave her, his cheeks were still stuffed with the bread and his tail madly wagged behind him.

"I'm not a puppy anymore," he mumbled through a muzzle full of stew.

"Don't talk with your mouth full! Chew your food too! You will always be my little puppy."

"Well your little puppy made his film debut earlier this summer!" he announced.

"You're in the movie that they were filming on the beach? I heard about all the excitement down on the Strand, but I had no idea that you were going to be in the film?"

"Reggie, Cooper, and me were extras!"

"You mean Reggie, Cooper, and I were extras," she corrected him. It was just like he was a teenager again, all excited.

"That's what I said! They filmed us in the surf doing our thing."

"So, who are you taking to the premier when it comes out? A hunk of fox like you should be starring in a movie and not being just an extra. Maybe you can star in a spy movie? We can call it The Fox Who Came Out of the Surf…or the Savage Beach!"

"Sounds more like a Jack Savage movie!" he laughed. She looked at him with and sighed, he looked so much like another male fox she knew long ago.

"Well my goodness, did you three have fun?"

"It was mostly sitting around waiting for them to film us and when we did get into the water, the director kept doing retakes. It was kind of boring, but we got paid."

"For sitting around?" .

"Yeah, they were supposed to pay us two hundred but they short changed us and tried to give us only ninety-five bucks. Their accountant said the rest had to go to union dues and other costs, you know all that legal crap! We'd have taken it too if it hadn't been for another fox we ran into who was selling pawpsicles to the crowd. He said we were being screwed and went to talk to the accountant. He came back with a thousand bucks each instead, but he kept two hundred as his agent fee."

"That seems fair."

"He was a smart guy too!" Stone enthusiastically continued. "A fennec fox, just like me, and drove a cool old van with a mural of a barbarian looking timber wolf holding an arctic vixen in his arms. He said his name was Fred, Frank, no…Finn…that's it he called himself Uncle Finn!"

His mother dropped her spoon and he ears fell down flat. "Finnick?" she whispered in shock. "Surely not Finnick!" Standing, she turned and seemed to stagger into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Stone was perplexed why his mother had fled to her room and his ears flicked when he heard her sobbing. Jumping up, he went and knocked on the door. "Mom? Mom? Mommy?" he called out. "Are you okay, what did I say? Did I do something wrong? Mommy?"

He heard her sniffling. "It's not you dear, it's just I didn't know he was still around here." she answered before crying again.

"What did he do to you?" Stone growled. "If he hurt you!"

"Stop it!" she called out. "He didn't hurt me…I hurt him!"

Stone opened the door and saw that she was hunched on the bed tenderly holding a photograph. He walked over and sat next to her. Wordlessly, she handed the photo to him and he looked at it. She was young in the picture and happy, next to her with his arm around her waist was a male fennec fox just beaming with joy. Behind them both was a brand new van with that same mural on its side. He looked over at her, "Who is he?"

"The only fox I ever loved until you and Storm were born," she whimpered. "I loved him so much that I gave him up, because he had such a bright future ahead of him and I didn't want to hold him back."

"I don't understand?" Stone said as he looked at the photo. "What do you mean?"

"He's your father Stone," she sobbed. "And he doesn't even know it!"


	10. A Surfer Fox's Quest Begins

**Chapter 10: A Surfer's Quest Begins**

* * *

 **Stone Digs into his mother's past and is determined to find his father.**

* * *

Stone Kole sat on the bed holding the photograph in his trembling paw, it was almost like a bomb had been dropped in the middle of his life! For as long he he could remember, he had been told that his father had ran off when his mother was pregnant, but now he realized why his mother had never confirmed or denied that story. He looked up at the ceiling and then back at his mother. "Are you saying my father never knew about me and Storm?" he muttered.

"He had such great plans for his life," she sniffled. "When I found out I was pregnant…I told him that I didn't love him and that they were another fox's babies."

"But we were, so why did you do that?"

"I loved him and did not want to destroy his life, tie him down to a family while he was so young and had such a hopeful future. We had been so careful, but one night we drank too much and …I didn't mean to get pregnant!"

Stone's ears drooped lower. "So we were an accident?" he asked with a low growl. "Just a mistake?"

"Yes…no! No, you and Storm are the best thing to ever happen to me!" She cried out and reached to hug him, but he pulled back.

"Why didn't you just…you know? It would have made your life so much easier without us."

"I couldn't do that! When I first went to the doctor and saw your images on the ultrasound I knew I could never do that."

"You never talked to him again?"

"I moved and changed my name to Kole, just so he couldn't find us."

"Well, I guess his big plans fell though! He's living in that damned van by himself, selling pawsicles for a living."

"It wasn't fair what I did to him…to you and Storm, but I did what I did and it can't be undone," she sighed and wiped her eyes. She went to stand, but Stone jumped up and charged out of the door.

"Stone don't…" she yelled running after him, but he was too fast as he ran out of her apartment and had already disappeared down towards the beach. "Please don't!"

Stone was mad, not so much at his mother as at the fox he now knew was his father. Why didn't he come back, surely he couldn't have believed her story? The fox shoved his way across the boardwalk and down to the shoreline, for Stone were the sea met the land was his place…his solitude…his home. He looked down at his paw when he realized that he still held the picture and in anger he lifted his paw to throw it into the sea, but then he hesitated. In confusion he stared at the photo again, the look of happiness on his mother's face and the grin on that other fox's muzzle. He felt the unfairness of it all and it angered him, he would find that bastard and shove this photo down his throat.

Slowly he walked down the beach, the sound of the surf beckoning him like a lover calling for him to come and join her. He looked around at the many kits playing in the sand and the surf, with their smiling families watching over them. "Family," he muttered to himself. "Family… a father and a mother." No, he had a family! He may have not known his father, but there was his mother and Storm, along with his uncles and aunts, cousins and friends…he had a family…a good family. Then he realized that maybe that was more than Finn ever had. Curiosity overcame him, did his father ever marry again and does he have any half brothers or sisters? Why was he living alone in the back of that old van? Maybe, just maybe, he was acting selfish again. His mother drove his father away and lied to him, so why would he come back? With a sigh, he sat upon a rock and stared out at the blue and green waters.

Cooper found him there as the evening came upon the beach. Good old Cooper was always there when the fox need him. Wallabies by their very nature were always more level headed then foxes, less likely to anger and quick to forgive. Cooper would laugh and tell him it was in their genes, just as his being a "drongo" was in his and Stone knew that he could never have a better friend then the hopper. "So mate, your bloody phone is off again," the wallaby said. "Your mum came by the campground looking for your ugly mug. She's worried about you Stoney, she told me about your dad being alive. She also brought this nasty smelling stew for you and I had to slap Reggie's paws to keep him out of it."

Stone just shook his head and stared at the surf. "She lied to me brah," he finally said. "All this time my father was alive, did she tell you that he was the guy who got us our money?"

"Not surprised mate," the wallaby shrugged and then chuckled. "You two looked kind of alike, but I just figured you're a fox and all you blokes look the same to me. Except for the grey ones and the red ones, and then there are those red foxes with the really long legs."

"Those are wolves! They are maned wolves and not foxes. You know that Cooper."

"Yeah, mate but it's good to hear you laugh. Now come on back to the campground, maybe Reggie left you some of that stew."

He walked with his best friend along the shoreline. "Cooper, I want to go met my father and find out why he never returned to us," he said. "If I loved someone the way my mother said he loved her, I would have come back."

"Didn't your mother tell him you weren't his kit? Maybe he felt rejected and betrayed."

"It doesn't work that way with foxes. We mark our mates…you know MATES not like you Outback Islanders call everyone…mates as in our lovers….you know what I mean!"

"It sure does get confusing, but we marsupials have developed our own unique lingo. I blame the roos for it, but I understand what you're saying. So if your mum was his lover, he would have marked her…right?"

"Yeah and any rival male would have found that a turnoff, he would have tried to mark her too. My father should have smelled that, even Scent Off can't cover that smell completely. So why did he believe her?"

"Don't know mate…argh Stoney…this bloody mate word thing is getting complicated!" the wallaby chuckled to himself.

"I need to find him and find out why he abandoned me and Storm."

"I don't think that's such a good idea. It's been over twenty years, can't you just let the past rest."

"No, I can't! My mother still loves him! She needs closure, I need closure! I need to rub the fact he had kits he abandoned down his pointy muzzle."

"So you want to hurt him?" the wallaby asked as he stopped and looked at his friend with concerned eyes. "Revenge is a cold road to hop down Stoney! Now come on mate, too much whinging will make mammals think you are a sook."

"Oh so you're going for the Outback slang again!" the fox laughed as his friend pulled his arm towards the trail. "I hope Reggie left my stew alone or I might throw a meerkat on the Barbie."

"Nice try mate, but stick with surfer sang," the wallaby laughed as he hopped down the trail.

When they got to the campsite, he had to laugh because like honey attracts bees, so does chicken stew draw carnivores. Reggie was there and so was the little kitten Tammy and both were hungrily looking at the pot by the fire. "Anyone interested in a bite of stew?" he snickered as he dipped into the pot and spooned out a couple of bowls of the stew. While Reggie noisily slurped his dinner, Tammy savored hers instead and was purring the whole time she ate. Stone sat back with the remainder of the pot by his lap and looked around at his friends. _Yeah there's more to family then just a mother and father,_ he realized. He found his phone and called his mother, assuring her that he was fine and apologizing that he ran off on her. He promised to stop by again in the next few days.

He didn't sleep well that night, but tossed and turned in his wicker basket. Usually he'd just curl up and pull a blanket over his head, but tonight his mind was just racing as he battled with himself about if he should go find his father. Then when he finally convinced himself that he was going to do so, he mulled over how he would ever find another small fox in such a big city.

Rubbing his tired eyes, he quietly slipped out of his basket, pulled on a pair of shorts and left the tent to wander down the trail towards the seashore. It was early, that time of morning called the false dawn when the sky began to brighten before the sun rose over the sea. He sat in the sand and listened in the early day's stillness as the surf rolled in, crashing on the sandy shore. Small sandpipers worked the shoreline, the birds running behind the outgoing water to peck with their long beaks into the sand, probing for their prey before running away from the next incoming wave.

It was going to be another cloudless sunny day on The Strand. The sea was a blue and green with whitish green foam that was left behind upon the sand where it splashed ashore. Behind him, the early traffic noise was already beginning as the morning commuters made their inland trek down the coastal roadways. He looked down the beach and saw some of the more intrepid tourists wandering down to the sand with their coffees clutched in their paws to watch the morning sunrise. A pair of raccoons in the city sanitation department's brownish tan uniforms clutched plastic bags as they patrolled the beach, picking up any garbage left from the day before. Behind them a six wheeled all-terrain vehicle rumbled along, providing them a depository for their finds.

 _Uniform!_ the fox mused as he watched the uniformed raccoons get closer. He remembered hearing the other fennec fox on the phone as he drove away in his worn out van talking to someone named Wilde. Then it was as if a light bulb went off in his head, Wilde was the name of the uniformed police officer he had met three times now. Did that red fox know the fennec fox? He stood as he distinctly recalled the officer saying to him, " _Heh, I learned a long time ago not to argue with a fennec fox_." Stone was excited because he realized that it would be easier to find the police officer then it would be the fox named Finn, after all how many foxes are cops?


	11. Search and Find

**Chapter 11: Search and Find**

* * *

 **Stone goes looking for a cop named Nick Wilde to see if he can hustle the fox out into giving him Finn's address.**

* * *

Stone Kole had finally made his decision that he would find Officer Wilde and somehow talk the larger red fox into revealing his father's location without the cop really knowing that he was planning to confront Finn about why he abandoned them. There was just one major fatal flaw with his plan, it was that the sea was calling him and the surf was up. With an excited grin, he ran back to the campground to find that Cooper was now awake and poking at the fire's ashes with a stick. "Surf's up!" Stone yelled as he began to strip his shorts off even before he entered the tent to grab his swimsuit and rash guard vest.

"Coffee?" was all the sleepy wallaby could say before the grinning fox passed him with his board. Watching as his best friend running down the trail, Cooper sighed and stared down at the smoldering fire. "He'll break his bloody neck one day and I won't be there to save him," the wallaby muttered to himself and then abandoning any hope of breakfast, he hopped into the tent to change.

It took Cooper about ten minutes to change into his swim trunks and rash shirt and then load their little wagon with towels, blankets, and some bottles of water. He also tossed some granola bars into the load before grabbing his board. When he got to the beach he chucked as he watched Stone pacing back and forth along the shoreline, but at the sight of his friend the fox grabbed his surf board and dove into the waves.

The wallaby shook his head as he unloaded the wagon, keeping a watchful eye on his friend. "He's like a puppy," a voice spoke from behind him. Copper looked back towards the trail head and saw Reggie walking his way with his board and pulling a red wagon. The meerkat was wearing a new pair of bright orange swim trunks and an old worn black rash guard shirt.

"At least he's got the sense to wait until someone joins him before he hits the surf mate," the wallaby chuckled. "Unlike a certain meerkat I know."

The thin surfer didn't respond, but just smiled and laughed as he ran past the wallaby with his board and into the surf.

"They're both acting like bloody kooks," Cooper mumbled as he grabbed his board and joined them.

They surfed for about an hour, before hunger and thirst finally drove them ashore.

"Gaakkk!" the wallaby held his nose as he stood and walked upwind from the fox who was sitting on the beach with a now opened tin can in his lap and a cracker in his paw. "You're not going to eat bloody crap are you mate?"

"Why not?" the fennec fox asked his friend Cooper. There was sand and salt in the fox's tan fur, which was sticking up after he shook off the seawater. "It's just potted meat, you know gator, turkey, and chicken meat pressed together with some kind of binder, maybe potato starch?"

"How can you eat something that smells…like that? It smells like rancid chickpeas!"

"You know hopper, I am an omnivore and I like meat," the small fox replied as he dug his digit back into the can and pulled out another chunk of the gelatinous pressed meat. The fox closed his eyes with a look of ecstasy as he plopped the chunk into his mouth and chewed with great satisfaction.

"I'm going further down the beach before I toss my cookies mate," Cooper sighed.

"So sensitive today," Reggie admonished the wallaby. The meerkat too was digging into a can of the same meaty concoction. "It was on sale and gator tastes like chicken anyways!" Reggie mumbled with a full mouth.

Cooper grabbed a granola bar and a bottle of water before looking over at his friends. "Oy, I'm going back to camp and starting some coffee mates," he announced as he hopped towards the trail. "Neither one of you blokes drown while I'm gone."

Stone stared at the waves with longing. "I've got to head back to camp too!" he grumbled. "I need to get dressed and find a cop."

Reggie looked at his friend and then at the surf, "I'll join you, at least until I can get Cooper to come back to the beach. He'd have a hissy fit if I stayed here by myself."

"Someone has to be the responsible one around here!" Stone laughed as he stood and shook himself off again.

Cooper had the coffee brewing by the time they got to the campsite and was standing there with Stone's toothbrush and toothpaste. "Go brush you fangs mate!" he snapped. "I can't stand that stench you're giving off when you talk!"

After he cleaned himself off, brushed his teeth and had a cup of coffee, the fox pulled on a teal sleeveless tee shirt and still dressed in his swim trunks, trotted down the beach towards the Boardwalk in search of a cop. It was early in the morning and so they were very few mammals up and about, the businesses along the Boardwalk were mostly closed and most didn't open their doors until later in the morning. The Carnival rides were all locked up and wouldn't crank up until that afternoon, so the only sounds besides the traffic was the birds calling in the trees that lined the streets.

Over a century ago when they built the first Boardwalk along the Strand, it was made of wooden planks which were suspended on pylons driven into the soft sand. The walkway was still made from wood, but it was lovingly maintained by the city. Souvenir shops, candy stores, photography studios, restaurants and bars with their gaudy lights that beckoning to the tourist at night lined one side of the walkway and the sandy beach the other. In the center of it all was the huge amusement park with its great big Ferris wheel, roller coaster, antique carousel, and other rides. Booths with carnival games such as the ring toss game, balloon dart game, and basketball shoot intermingled with those that sold cotton candy, popcorn, and funnel cakes. During the evenings the walkway and amusement park would be packed with mammals of all sizes, but in the early morning it was mostly vacant with only a few hardy souls out on the beach or seeking their breakfast.

Locating Officer Nick Wilde turned out not to be that difficult of a task. Stone just located the first cop he could find, which turned out to be a police officer named Larry Vifaru. The uniformed rhino was standing along the Boardwalk in front of a coffee shop impatiently waiting for this partner. As the fennec fox approached him, the big mammal looked down and smiled. "You lost little feller?" he asked.

"Larry put on your glasses!" Stone huffed as he looked up at the much larger cop. "It's me Stone Kole!"

"Oh hey Stoney!" the cop laughed as he removed the pair of sunglasses he was wearing, which were the favorite brand that most police officers wore and had the mirror like finish that hid their eyes. "I was trying out these new shades, too bad they don't make them in my prescription." He pulled a pair of regular glasses out of his pocket and put them on over his snout, "So what's up?"

"I'm looking for a cop named Wilde," the small fox replied. "You wouldn't happen to know him would you?"

"Everyone knows Nick Wilde," the rhino scoffed. "He's with his partner Hopps, what a pair those two make! Did you know they solved the Night Howlers case years ago and saved the city? Besides, he's the only fox on the force, although I still can't believe that they even hired a fox to start with."

"Do you know how I can reach him?" Stone pressed on, ignoring the not so veiled fox comment. The rhino was now looked toward the coffee shop with a scowl.

"Try calling the First downtown," the rhino almost absentmindedly replied. The big guy was obviously getting agitated with his partner, a handsome lion named Ricky who was still inside the coffee shop and apparently flirting with the pretty lioness behind the counter. "Yeah, call the First Stoney, they'll get him a message."

Since their conversation was now apparently over because the rhino started walking away from the fox and towards the coffee shop, all the time mumbling something about cats, Stone made his way back toward the campground so he could clean up and change clothes before he went downtown. Although he knew it would be easier to just call the police station, he was afraid that the fox would deny knowing the fennec fox. No, he would ask him face to face.

"Are you really sure you want to do this mate?" Cooper asked when his friend told him about his plan. "Are you sure you want to open this can of worms? I mean, are you being fair to your mum?"

"I'm being no less fair then she was by lying to me and Storm, bro! " the little beige fox in the light grey tee shirt and black cargo shorts angrily snapped back, then his ears drooped when he saw his best friend's look of disappointment.

"Sorry mate," the wallaby sighed as he slowly hopped away towards the tent. "No problems Stoney, sorry I asked."

"Cooper…Coop…bro! I'm sorry," Stone said as he rushed to catch up with his friend. "Look I didn't mean to snap at you like that!"

"I'm just worried for you Stoney. What if this doesn't go the way you think it will? Didn't your mum say it was her fault that he didn't know?"

"My mother is always taking the blame for things. She needs to stop blaming herself."

"But Stoney, what if she's…"

"She isn't!"

"Look mate, I'm your best pal and I love you. I'll be here when you need to talk."

The fox looked at him without saying a word and then left him behind as he rushed toward the bus stop down the road, leaving the wallaby to just shake his head. Cooper sat down on one of the cheap plastic chairs and he pulled out his cell phone. He stared at it for a while and then with a deep sigh, he called a familiar number. "Hey sis!" he said. "Just missing everyone, how's my nephews…we're at the campground near the Boardwalk…Yeah, I talked with mum a few days ago…no, he still won't talk to me…I was hoping he'd accept it by now, but you know how he gets…I know you do and so do the others, but still he needs to understand that I was born this way and I can't just change…it still hurts to have your father reject you because you're gay."

* * *

Zootopia has a magnificent transportation system of buses and trains, but it always seems to the fox that they never went to where we wanted to go. It took him two bus transfers to just get to the subway station, where he finally caught the train downtown. From Central Station he walked to the huge downtown police station.

"Hey little guy are you lost?" a uniformed fat cheetah, who was sitting behind the large receptionist desk called out to him as the little fox entered the station's lobby. "You lost your mommy?"

"Look officer, I'm over twenty years old!" Stone snapped back at the much larger cat. "I'm a fennec fox, not a puppy."

"Oh My Goodness, I'm so sorry!" the cheetah replied in a mortified voice. "I have only met one other fennec fox before, he's a pal of Nick Wilde's."

"Oh yeah?" Stone replied. "You wouldn't happen to know where that guy lives would you?"

The cheetah looked up at the ceiling and scratched his ear. "No not really, Nick one told me that he lives in his van down by the old mills," he replied. "You want me to radio Nick? He's over in Tundratown today with Officer Wolford."

"That's okay. Hey, those old mills are on the Eastside right?"

"No, they are downtown near the Rainforest District, just past the new stadium."

"Thanks!" the fox yelled back as he scurried out the door.

"Awww, what a cutie!" the cheetah sighed as he saw the fox leaving. "I wonder what he wanted with Nick?"

"Hey, Ben!" a female voice called to him from the other side of the lobby. Benjamin Clawhauser looked over at the police officer who had called to him. "Wasn't that Stone Kole, the surfer?"

"He didn't say Judy," Ben shrugged. "He just asked for Nick and then about Nick's little buddy Finnick before he left."

Judy Hopp's nose twitched as she looked out the window at the little fox that was scurrying away and then she ran back to her cubicle, where she logged into the police database. The rabbit had a hunch something was wrong and she typed in Stone Kole's name and began reading what little was in the system. Quickly, she was cross referenced from the little fox to his more notorious brother Storm's lengthy rap sheet. Then she typed in Storm's mother's name and was perplexed at what she found out. "She changed her name from Susan Zerda to Susan Kole?" she muttered. "Why did she do that?" Pulling up Storm Kole's birth certificate, her eyes widen in surprise.

The rabbit about fell off her chair as she grabbed for her cell phone, "Hey Slick…no, I don't miss you that much…shut up goofball…I need to tell you something important about Finn."


	12. A Father & Son's Reunion

**Chapter 12: Father and Son Reunion**

* * *

 **Things don't go quite the way that Stone imagined.**

* * *

The old mill side of the city was full of rundown, abandoned buildings with their crumbling walls and broken windows that dominated the hillsides overlooking the residential and business section of an old town once ironically called Happy Town. Like so many smaller towns that once existed within the city's ever expanding sprawl, Happy Town was a formally prosperous settlement that fell upon hard times and never really recovered. The city's better class of citizens called it "that part of the city," where the working poor and unemployed lived in their tenements and seedy apartments. The residents were overwhelmingly predators, mostly foxes, raccoons, opossums, and coyotes.

The small fox cautiously walked along the sidewalks, mindful of the trash and broken bottles which littered the streets. He peeked down one grimy alleyway after another before he found the vehicle he was looking for. As Stone approached the van, he saw the older fennec fox dressed in a black bowling shirt and a pair of grey pants was sitting next to it with a beer in his paw and a cigarette in the other. He smiled as the younger fox entered the alleyway. "Well if it isn't surfer boy!" he chuckled in that surprisingly deep voice. "You need a talent agent already?"

"I want to talk to you," Stone replied in a nervous voice, he looked at the middle aged fennec fox with trepidation and then standing straight as he drew upon false bravado, he added. "I want to know why you abandoned Susan Zerda?"

The other fox stood up in surprise and asked, "Where'd you hear that name?"

"Just answer my question," Stone growled. "Why did you leave her?"

"You little shit!" Finn barked as he suddenly launched himself forward with his fangs bared in a snarl. "Who the hell do you think you're hustling?" The older fox grabbed Stone's shirt and slammed him against the nearby brick wall, causing him to grunt in pain. Then the younger fox gasped as the other fox punched him in the stomach, it was like being hit by a hammer. With the wind knocked out of him, Stone fell onto the pavement and the photo he was gripping slid from his grasp and fluttered onto the grimy dirt next to him.

Finn looked down at the photo and his eyes widened as he bent over and picked it up. "Where'd you get this!" he snarled, his right paw grabbing Stone's left ear and yanking it upwards causing the younger fox to yelp from the pain. "TELL ME OR I'LL BITE YOUR FACE OFF!"

"From my…my mother!" Stone protested as he turned his head and grabbed at the steely strong paw that was twisting and causing such intense pain to his ear. These words seemed to only enrage the older fox even more.

"LAIR!" Finn yelled as he kicked Stone in the ribs. "I…don't…she's…she's…DEAD!" He accented each of his fumbling words with a kick, causing the younger fox to try to curl up for protection as he groaned.

Suddenly the older fox stopped kicking him and Stone panted in his pain as he tried to gather his wits. His ears flicked as he heard the van door open and looked up to see that the enraged fox now had a baseball bat.

"How dare you sully her memory!" Finn growled as he lifted the bat over his head, but before he could strike, the sounds of a siren pierced the air. Stone looked up in confusion in time to see the police cruiser squeal to a stop behind the van.

"Don't Finn!" a voice yelled out.

"Stay out of this Wilde!" Finn snarled back at the red fox in the police uniform who had jumped out of the car and was now standing near them. "This isn't any of your business!"

"I can't let you hurt him!"

"Why cause you're a cop? He needs to be taught a lesson!"

"I can't let you hurt him. Finn, he is your son!"

The older fennec fox looked over at the cop in confusion, his ears drooped and the bat hung useless in his paw. 'That's impossible!" he whined. "They said she died in childbirth…my Susie is dead…"

"They lied to you," Nick said in a soothing voice as he approached his friend and gently reached down to take the bat from his grasp. "She lived and gave birth to a litter of two puppies."

"But they said she died!" the older fox cried out as he dropped to his knees and he seemed in Stone's eyes to have suddenly aged ten years. "I didn't believe her when she told me that they weren't my babies, I came back for her but she was gone…"

Stone sat up, unsure of what to do and wiped the blood from his muzzle with the back of his paw as he watched the other fennec fox who continued. "I didn't believe her, I never smelled anyone else marking her…I waited too long for her to…to…," he sobbed as he looked down at the photo. "Why did she do that?"

"She told me that she loved you too much to ruin your future plans by her mistake," Stone bitterly answered. The older fox looked over at him with tears in his eyes. "My mother sacrificed her chance for a future beyond working day and night to raise two kits all by herself, so you could do what? Sell pawpsicles? Run scams and hustles?"

Nick gave the young fox a look of profound disappointment, but the larger fox didn't say anything.

"We grew up thinking our father had run off and abandoned us," Stone growled. "Forgotten and unloved, a MISTAKE…little BASTARDS we were called behind our backs, but we heard."

"I looked for her! I spoke to her brother Max and he said that she had died and was cremated," Finn replied. "I'm so sorry, I would have found you if I'd known you were alive!"

Stone stood up and didn't immediately reply, but walked over and snatched the photo out of the older fox's paw. "Yeah, this is some future that she gave her happiness up for, you're a real winner! Living in a beat up old van and hustling others for a living, what happened to those grand lofty dreams she said that you had?"

"They died the same day I was told my Susie died. I fell apart and didn't care about anyone or anything for years. I was bitter with myself and angry at the world."

"You haven't changed much!"

"I did…I had to…for the sake of a friend," Finn sniffled. He looked up at the red fox, who was now casually leaning on the van just watching. The larger fox's ears flattened and he straightened when he realized it was him that the older fennec fox was talking about. "I ran across this angry pup who would have died on the streets if he had continued the way he was going. Wilde was too dumb to survive by himself, so I took him under my wing and kept an eye on him."

"Finn…" the red fox began to say as he reached a paw towards his friend, but he stopped and sighed.

"He was fourteen when he ran away from home," Finn continued as he still knelt on the ground. "Running around like an idiot, doing petty crimes and I knew someone would kill him if I didn't help him learn about the streets. Sure we made money together by conning and hustling others, we actually made a great team…until the bunny came back and talked him into going honest."

"Sorry," Stone muttered. "I didn't know…know that they told you we were dead."

"And your mother?" Finn asked as he stood, there was concern in his voice. "Is she?"

"Alive and kicking as of a couple nights ago," Stone chuckled.

Finn crossed over to him. "Do..do you think she would see me?" his voice was now so full of hope.

"Gee…DAD, I guess I can ask her," the younger fox laughed as tears sprung to his eyes.

"Dad, I like the sound of that," Finn chuckled and tentatively reached towards the younger fox. Stone hesitated and looked the older fox in the eyes, before finally stepping into his embrace.

"Yeah dad," Stone cried.

Both of their ears twitched at the sound of sniffling from near the van and they looked over at the red fox who was wiping his eyes. "Dusty around here," Nick chucked. "I think I might be allergic to something."

"Sure Wilde," Finn scoffed.

The red fox leaned back again and his telltale smirk returned to his muzzle. "So are you two forgetting about someone?" he teased.

Finn gave Stone a perplexed look.

"Aw come on!" Nick protested. "Finn, she had a litter of two!"

"I have another son?" the older fox asked.

"About my brother Storm," Stone sighed. "I think I need to break this to him myself before you met, he doesn't have my good natured personality."

"Oh yeah, what does he do for a living?" Finn asked.

"Nothing right now," Stone gave his father a weak smile as his ears drooped flat. "He's in jail."


	13. A Lover's Reunion

**Chapter 13: A Lover's Reunion**

* * *

 **Stone's mother agrees to meet with Finn and things go better that expected. Cooper has to make a decision and turns to his best friend for advice.**

* * *

His mother finally agreed to meet with Finn and a few days later she nervously paced her apartment as she waited for the other fox to arrive. "What if he doesn't forgive me?" she whimpered again. "I've changed so much. You know I'm not that slim sexy girl he once knew."

"He's put on a few pounds himself," Stone laughed. "Things will be just fine. You should have seen his tail swishing as I told him about you!"

She had dressed in a light blue blouse and a dark burgundy skirt, Stone looked at the old photo of her next to Finn. His mother hadn't really gained any weight, but the years had changed her. Cooper was sitting next to his friend on the sofa and looked at the photo. "She actually looks sexier now, curvier in all the right places," he whispered to Stone.

"What do you know, you're gay?" Stone chuckled. "Also that's my mother you're talking about dude!"

"I may be gay, but I can still appreciate a good looking vixen," he replied with a smile.

"I can hear you two!" Susan gave a weak smile as she snapped at her son and his best friend. Her ears shot up and then suddenly flattened as she heard the sound of a vehicle approaching. The vixen ran to the window and peeked out to watch a familiar looking van pull into the parking lot. She turned to Stone and said in a panicked voice, "Oh by the Great Lion above, he's here! He's here!"

Stone stood and went to the widow and smiled because the van had been washed and was shining as if it was almost new. He watched as the middle aged fennec fox climbed out of the van and grinned because Finn was wearing a blue suit and carrying a bouquet of flowers. "Hey Cooper are you thirsty?" he called out to his friend. "I think I want to walk over to the M-Market for one of those frozen sodas."

"You're not leaving me alone!" his mother hissed at him.

"Yep, that exactly what I'm going to do," Stone replied as he walked over and hugged her. "You and Finn need to talk by yourselves."

The doorbell rang and he left her standing in the middle of the room as he went to answer it, opening the door he smiled at Finn. "Hey…ah, dad, you're looking good," he greeted the other fox. "Cooper and I are going over to the M-Mart and we'll be back later." Finn looked at him in surprise as the younger fox just walked past him and out of the door.

The wallaby followed behind the younger fox and shrugged as he passed by Finn. "My names Cooper and it's nice to meet you…again," he said. "I'll see you later mate."

Finn watched the two surfers as they walked away before turning towards the open door. "Well Finn, are you going to stand in the doorway all day?" he heard a female voice ask. Turning, he peered in and saw the attractive vixen standing there looking at him.

* * *

"Hey Stoney, you've heard of the annual PRIDE parade, right?" Cooper asked his friend.

"Who hasn't?" Stone shrugged. "It's next month, why?"

"They've asked me to be on a float this year with other sports celebrities. "But, I'm not sure I want to do it."

"Why not?" the fox asked as he stopped and looked at his friend, who was now nervously shuffling one of his foot paws on the sidewalk. "Everyone knows your gay, so what's the matter?"

"It's just I haven't publically come out. I mean it's a personal thing and I'm not comfortable proclaiming my sexuality to the world in such a manner."

The fox put his paw on his friend's shoulder and sighed. "Bro, I know that you're having issues with your father about being gay," Stone said. "But you are who you are and you shouldn't be ashamed!"

"There are rumors that we are lovers mate. Some of the guys think you're gay too!"

"So what? You are my best friend and I will stand by you when you need me!"

"Do you think I should do it? I mean everyone will know."

"Dude, does it matter? Again, you are who you are and you should stop beating yourself up and trying to hide who you are from the world. Isn't this what the parade is for? To announce to the world that you won't be ashamed of who you are and that you're tired of others telling you that you're wrong to love who you love?"

Stone walked a few paces away from his friend and then turned. "Hey Cooper, do you have to be gay to be on that float? I mean brah, can I ride on it with you to show that I support you?" he asked.

"I don't know?" Cooper replied, there was a brief smile on his face but then he frowned. "But everyone will think your gay mate."

"Hah, I don't care! Besides, we both know I'm into cats and some turd brains find that offensive too!"

"No mate! You're just into one particular cat."

"That's true! That's so true!"

The two friends went to the store and got their drinks, afterwards they walked down the park and sat and talked. Cooper was disappointed when he called the organizers and found out that they only wanted LGBTI athletes on the float.

"They said that you can march with the other supporters, but you can't be on the float," the wallaby sighed. "I'm still not sure I want to do it either."

"I'm not going to push you. It's your choice, but I'll back you one hundred percent either way."

"You think everything is going okay with your mum? We've been gone for over a few hours, so don't you think we should be going back?"

"You're probably right. I hope they made up or at least forgave each other."

Stone and Cooper walked back to the apartment and found it empty. "That's weird?" the fox said as he looked around. The van was in the same parking space, so he knew that Finn hadn't left. "I wonder if they went down to the shore?"

The fox walked out of the apartment and looked around, when suddenly he heard faint giggling from inside the van. "You've got to be kidding me," he groaned as he watched his mother as she buttoned her blouse and then pushed her now rumpled skirt down while climbing out of the back of the van.

"Hey Stoney, I guess they made up!" the wallaby whispered.

"Come on," Stone said as he grabbed the wallaby's arm. "Let's get out the backdoor before they see us and then we'll come back in about ten minutes and see what they do!"

The guys hung out behind the apartment complex until they knew both Stone's mother and Finn had returned to the apartment. They laughed and made a lot of noise as they approached the front door before opening it.

Finn was sitting on the sofa and Susan was in the little kitchen making drinks. "There they are!" Finn said as the two surfers entered the room.

"So did you two have a good talk?" Stone asked, trying not to laugh at the look that his two parents gave each other.

"Yes dear we did," his mother replied. "Finn and I have decided to go on a date tonight."

"Well that sounds like fun," Stone replied. "So…ah..dad, how's that old van driving these days, I mean it's now a classic?"

"It's a pain to keep up, but I couldn't let it go," the older fox answered as his eyes locked onto the vixen's as he accepted his drink from Susan. "It's too special."

"I'll bet it's a little bumpy, especially in the back," Stone continued with the questions. "Can you even get rear shocks for that thing?"

Cooper was biting his tongue to keep from laughing.

Finn gave him a look and his ears blushed as he sighed.

"Have you shown mom around the van?" the younger fox continued. Susan looked at her son and then the wallaby who just broke out laughing.

"I'm sorry Mrs. K, I need to step outside for a bit," Cooper chuckled as he stood and quickly hooped out the door, they could hear the wallaby's laughter outside.

She looked over at Finn and then it dawned on her what Stone was referring to with the van questions, her ears drooped and reddened.

"Sorry!" Stone laughed as he stood up and began to strut towards the door. "You two have a great time tonight, I'm glad you're getting along again. Have fun!"

"Stone…" his mother called out, but the fox just grinned and waved goodbye before closing the door behind him.

"Smart kit," Finn dryly said to the vixen. "Damn fox noses."

"Just like his father," she giggled and walked over to sit by the tod's side. Finn set his drink down and pulled her closer for a kiss. "So where do you want to go tonight?"

She didn't answer, but just smiled as her eyes looked over at the bedroom.


	14. Here Kitty Kitty Kitty!

**Chapter 14: Here Kitty...Kitty…Kitty!**

* * *

 **A night out on the Boardwalk and Karen leaves Stone perplexed.**

* * *

Stone Kole's best friend Cooper was still fretting over whether or not he wanted to participate in the upcoming PRIDE parade, so the fox decided it was a good time to have a night out on Boardwalk. Pulling on a clean t-shirt with a surfer logo and the word "cowabunga" printed on it, he also slipped on a pair of khaki shorts. "Let's go hang out and see what happens," he told the wallaby. "Just like the good old days."

Cooper always dressed better than the fox, probably because he got his fashion sense from his mother and not from the discount rack at the local thrift store. He had put on a nice green and grey checkered button down short sleeve shirt and a pair of charcoal colored shorts.

Reggie was waiting outside of the tent, the meerkat was dressed similar to the fox with a simple tee shirt and shorts. "So we're just going to hang out tonight?" he asked Stone as the little fox came out of the tent. "Pick up tourist, like in the old days."

"That's the plan, just chill out brah," the fox grinned.

Nighttime on the Boardwalk was always a special festive time of the evening, the bright colorful lights and clashing music beckoned the seasonal tourists to the overpriced stores, rigged games, and exciting rides. For Stone Kohl, it was familiar territory which he had trod since he was a pup. He knew most of the venders and shop owners, who welcomed him and sometimes would brag to the tourist that the famous boogie board champion was in the shop looking at his boards. Stone didn't mind playing the unofficial salesman by recommending a board or two to a young eager fan and even autographing a few.

Reggie had set his sights on a pair of giggling young female meerkats who looked to be in their late teens, about the same age as his friend. Stone saw Cooper flirting with one of the carnies, another wallaby he already knew. But for the fox, he wasn't interested in the many young adoring female fans. He was just watching the families and for once in his life realized that he was no longer jealous.

"Well stud, I haven't seen you down here in a long time," a familiar voice called out to him. He looked around and saw Karen standing there with her little sister. His eyes looked her over, the simple short pink with black stripes shirt that left the cream colored fur of her tight tummy exposed and the shirt's stripes accented her natural blackish bands of fur on her arms and in the rings of her tail which stuck out through the pair of cut off denim jeans she wore. Her tail's tip was twitching as she moved towards him in that seductive feline manner. "What's my favorite fox been up to tonight?"

"Just waiting for the right girl to appear so I can show her a good time," he replied. "So what brings my favorite sexy cat to the Boardwalk, I thought you hated all of this?"

"One of my sister's wanted to come down," Karen replied as she pointed toward the younger cat that was standing in the distance. The fox noticed that the sixteen year old kitten was distracted and furtively glancing at very male sandcat who standing with his friends not too far away. The fox also noticed that the male cat was also shyly looking back.

"Ah, to be young and naïve again," the fox sighed as he placed his paw over his heart. "So what are we planning to do tonight?"

"Play a few games, ride a few rides, and hope someone get up the courage to come talk to her," the cat answered as she moved next to the fox and slipped under his arm.

"I always talk to you!" he chuckled as she elbowed him. "But I'm not who you're talking about."

"You're not that dense," Karen sighed.

"Hey Peggy!" Stone called to the younger cat. "Let's go ride the spinning roller coaster!"

"But Stoney, there are only two smaller mammal seats in each car," Karen loudly sighed. "We need someone else to ride with us."

"Well most of the fun rides are side by side seats," Stone added and then his ears shot up. "Then I guess I'll just need to find another rider!"

Karen grinned and her sister's eyes widened as the fox took off toward the young male sand cat who was still standing around with his friends. "Hey bro, can you help a fellow mammal out?" he called out as he walked over to the group of teens. "I'm here with my date and her younger sister and they want to ride that coaster, but I don't want her to ride alone. Would you be willing to do me a favor and ride with her sister?"

The male cat looked over at the younger female cat and then back at the fox. "Are…are…are you sure she'd want to ride with me?" he nervously asked.

"Dude!" Stone whispered. "You two have been checking each other out since she got here, come on bro!"

His friends chuckled at him and one of them pushed him her direction. "Don't be a wuss," one of his friends laughed.

The teenage sand cat followed the fox back towards Karen and Peggy. "I found another rider," Stone proclaimed. "Peggy meet…ah, what's your name bro?"

"Timmy, ah Tim, it's nice to meet you Peggy," he shyly replied while offering his paw for her to shake. His ears were slightly blushing, but Stone's nose picked up the scent of an interested tom cat. He'd have to keep an eye on these two. "Would you mind riding with me?"

"It's nice to meet you Tim, sure I'd like that," Peggy giggled, her ears were blushing too. Her paw lingered in his for a few moments and Stone wanted to laugh at the scent she was giving off. Then he realized it was similar to the one that Karen gave him.

"Okay, I'm Stone and this is Karen," the fox interjected. "Karen this is Tim."

"You're Stone Kole," the male cat exclaimed. "The four time surfing champ?"

"One in the same," the fox answered. "So let's get in line to ride!"

The fox listened to the two cats talking and laughing, they seemed to be hitting it off. Peggy wasn't anything like her old sister, Karen. When they first met it was after a competition and the fox was in a very festive mood, he had talked Cooper into going to one of the beach bars to celebrate. Then he saw her across the room at the bar and she looked his way with a smile. After a few minutes, he was surprised when she grabbed up her drink and seductively walked towards him. "So Mr. Kole, the small board champion, what are you looking at?" she asked with a smile. Setting her drink on the table next to his, she reached around and pulled her tail while looking at it. "Do I have something on my tail? You've been staring at it long enough."

The table of males that was sitting with the fox went dead silent and slid out of his way when he stood up and walked closer to her. "It wasn't your tail I was looking at!" he replied while giving her a sly smirk.

"Oh my, Mr. Kole!" she sighed. "It wasn't my tail?"

He shook his head no and she grinned, placing her paws on his chest before continuing, "My mother always warned me about you silver tongued foxes! So you got a good look at mine, I guess it's only fair that I get a good look at yours."

One of his companions choked on his beer and coughed. He heard Cooper as he whispered, "Damn!"

His smirk turned to a grin and he turned around and bent over a little, his tail was furiously wagging. "Watch it champ, that tail almost knocked over our drinks," she giggled. Stone almost jumped straight into the air as the cat's paw caught his tail.

That was the beginning of their flirtatious romance which continued even to this night. Cooper called their relationship "the Great Chase", because no matter how he tried she always slipped away at the end of the night.

"So fox what's got that tail a wagging tonight?" Karen asked as she put her paw on it.

"Just thinking about the night we first met," he replied with a grin. He drew her closer and nipped her neck fur.

"Now Champ, my kit sister is back there and I don't want her or that tomcat to get any ideas," she giggled.

For the next two hours they rode every ride that was for a mammal their size and soon the two younger cats were holding hands.

"Are you sure she's your sister?" Stone snickered as he and Karen stood in line to buy some roasted silkworms on a stick. "She seems too nice."

He was rewarded with a flick of her paw against his ear and the roll of her eyes. "Ow!" he protested as she flicked his ear again. "See what I mean!"

"Did I hurt my fox's ear?" she purred and pulled it down to lick it.

"Bad cat!" he laughed. Then he noticed that she had stepped back and was watching his tail as it swished back and forth.

"Look at that tail go!" she gave a sexy sigh. "If it keeps wagging like that I might just pounce."

"Promises…promises," he replied. "You can pounce on any part of my body anytime and anywhere you want too!" His comments made her blush and then he realized she never blushed before, which set his tail wagging faster.

They let the two young cats have more space as the night wore on, but Karen made sure they were always in view. With a sigh she finally called over to her sister, "Curfew darling, dad will have my tail if I get you home to late."

He sister gave her an aggravated look and then desperately looked at the tomcat. "I've got to go back to the apartment," she sighed.

"Are you going to be on the beach tomorrow?" Tim quickly asked. "I mean do you want to hang out on the beach tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Peggy enthusiastically replied. "Well goodnight."

"See you tomorrow, around ten?" he asked as she walked towards her sister and the fox.

"Hold on!" Stone snapped as he ran over to the male cat. "Dude, what's wrong with you? You could at least walk her back to her door!"

"Oh!" the cat exclaimed. "Hey Peggy wait!" He called out as he ran back over to her. "Can I walk you home?"

"Sure," she grinned and took his paw.

"You two head on," Stone called out and pulled Karen back towards him. "I haven't finished kissing her sister." Karen's protest was cut off by a kiss. They followed at a discreet pace behind the younger cats until they got to her door. Stone gave a fist pump when he saw from the distance that the male cat leaned over and nervously kissed Peggy before she went inside.

"Make sure the guy gets home," Karen whispered. "Then I'll meet you at the Tiki Bar down on the beach. Peggy may have a curfew, but I don't and you owe me a nightcap."

"Hey Tim!" he yelled to the cat. "I'll walk with you."

"I just live on the fifth floor," the confused cat replied.

"Well there you go! Thanks for entertaining Peggy tonight."

"Thanks for asking me to do so Mister Kole. I like her a lot."

"Anytime dude," the fox shook his paw and then made his way down the stairs towards the bar. He waited for over an hour before Karen showed up. True to his nature, Stone had found a group of fans to hang out with and to buy his drinks.

"Sorry Stoney," I had an excited teenager who just wanted to talk about her good time," Karen said as she entered the bar. She smiled sweetly at the barely dressed female ferret who was sitting really close to the fox.

The ferret sighed and scooted away from the surfer. "You're that cat who Stone ran over to in the middle of his interview to kiss," she huffed. "I did know you two were still seeing each other."

"Yeah, that might explain why he smells like cat," she replied in a rather condescending manner.

"Hey maybe you two could mud wrestle over me," Stone laughed. "If only we had some mud."

The cat looked at him strange look, almost as if she was disappointed with him in some way and turned to walk away. "He's yours tonight!" she snapped towards the ferret.

Stone's ears went flat as he watched the now apparently mad cat as she walked away and onto the beach. "Hey Romeo," he heard the ferret call him. "We've just been flirting, but she's the real thing."

The fox looked back at the girl in gratitude, but the ferret rolled her eyes and pointed at the departing cat. "Fetch," she giggled. "Go on goofy, she's the one for you!"

He jumped out of his seat and took off running after Karen, catching her by the paw. She turned to face him and now she gave him an amused look as he gave her one of those genuine canid style confused looks with his ears down and his head cocked sideways. "What did I do?" he asked her.

"It's what you didn't do that bothered me," she replied. "Am I just someone you like to hang out with to have a good time? Is that all I am to you?"

If his ears could have drooped any further, they would have touched his knees. "I like hanging out with you because your fun and…"

"Just leave me alone!" she snarled as tears sprang to her eyes and she ran back toward her apartment, leaving the small confused fox alone by the sea. Slowly he walked along the shoreline towards the campground, wracking his brain on what he did wrong. He was alone in the tent that night, Cooper never came back, and so the fox tossed and turned inside his basket. It was around three in the morning when it suddenly dawned on what she meant and he sat up with a gasp in the cool darkness. She loved him and he loved her, but he never told her that!


	15. Early Morning Reflections

**Chapter 15: Early Morning Reflections**

* * *

 **Stone reflects upon his life and struggles with his feeling toward Karen. Cooper lays down the law!**

* * *

Stone woke up and poked his nose out of his basket. The mornings were beginning to get chillier, even here along the coast as summer began moving into fall. He stretched and yawned before pulling a tee shirt on and stumbling out of the tent, his first stop this morning was the bathroom where he hiked his leg to empty his bladder. The campsite was still empty with no sign of his best friend and so the fox began to make a campfire, as the flames began to catch he filled the coffee pot with water and dug around for something to eat. He finally found a granola bar and clutching the bar in his paw he laid down in the hammock and slowly chewed.

"Hey Stoney," he heard the meerkat whisper. "You got any eats I can borrow this morning?"

The fox sat up and looked at the meerkat, he was usually never this quite or even awake this early in the morning. "Sure brah, help yourself to a granola bar," he replied.

"No!" Reggie said as he shook his head. "I mean real food, like eggs or something good?"

"Beggars can't be choosers," Stone replied. But he caught Reggie's scent and realized why the meerkat was looking for something more than just granola bars.

"Darn!" his friend sighed and stretched. "Good thing I never promised them breakfast."

"Them?" the fox asked. His ears twitched in surprise. "What do you mean by them?"

The meerkat just smiled at him as he lazily walked back towards his tent. "Hukuna Matata," he softly laughed.

The fox shook his head as he leaned back into his hammock and wondered what else this morning was going to bring. He looked up at the sky above and watched the few white puffy clouds that peppered the otherwise blue sky as he thought about last night. Stone knew that he loved Karen, but what kind of life could he offer her? He was first and foremost a surfer, the surf was in his blood and he was drawn to the waves like a junkie was to drugs. Sure he knew plenty of weekend warriors who lived only for the surf on their days off from work, but he didn't see himself living that way. Maybe he could be a seasonal instructor, teaching folks how to surf? He did enjoy the clinics he had previously participated in and they did pay fairly well.

Karen held a steady job at one of the hotels of the Strand and although it didn't pay that great, it was a year round position and not just seasonal. She lived, along with her littermate Kathy, in her family's condo on the beach. As for Stone, he never really knew what it was like to stay put in one place too long. As a child, the moved several times during the year and as a self-proclaimed beach bum, he currently moved back and forth between the city campground and his semi-permanent camp across the channel in Seaside. He earned his living on his board, working odd jobs to make up for the lean times when he ran out of his winnings. The fox really didn't have much that he owned, besides his boards and his cloths. The tent, the hammock, and even the beat up old camper in Seaside all were Coopers.

Cooper was a true paradox, a refugee in almost every way. He had inherited a substantial trust fund from his wealthy grandparents, but he could not draw from it until her reached thirty. Until that time, it was controlled by his overbearing father, a builder who had taken over his father's construction firm on Outback Island and expanded it into a successful citywide operation. His father was a no-nonsense conservative mammal, who had run off his youngest son when he found out that Cooper was gay. As for Cooper's abilities on the waves, he was good but he didn't have the talent that Stone or Reggie had. He always competed, but never won and Stone knew that he got his living expenses "under the table" from his mother. In all fairness, Cooper's father hadn't totally abandoned his son, it just that he expected the young wallaby to change his lifestyle and to become "normal" like his siblings. Although the fox's best friend never really spoke much about his parents or even his sexuality, Jake knew that Cooper was terribly hurt by his father's rejection.

Stone sighed as he hopped out of the hammock and poured himself another cup of coffee, starring down into the flames. He shook his head and he contemplated how his once carefree life had become so complicated so fast. The easiest thing he could do was just to pack up and run back to Seaside, it was a good place to hide from his future. His other choice was to "buckle down" and do something more with his life, like find steady work. With a groan, he put his paws over his face and wondered what to do about Karen.

"Maybe its past time to breakup with her?" he muttered to himself. "It would be better for her to find someone else, someone who has a future. So if that's the right thing to do, why is my heart is telling me elsewise?"

His ear's flicked when he heard this best friend's distinctive thumping trod coming down the trail towards the campground, his friend was also happily humming an old traditional Outback tune. "G'day mate!" Cooper called out to the fox. "You look like bloody hell Stoney, what happened between you and Karen?"

"She's getting serious bro," Stone replied. "I think it's time to breakup our little seasonal romance before that cat gets her claws into me."

The wallaby stopped and looked him over. "Cut and run mate?" he asked in a skeptical manner. "Who are you running from fox, the cat or your heart?"

Stone did not immediately respond, but his ears drooped and his tail curled close to his legs. Finally he said, "It's not that…I…I just need to move on."

"Sure mate, you can tell yourself that today and then you will be crying tomorrow. If I could find a bloke that made me half as happy as she makes you, I'd grab him and never let go."

"I have nothing to offer her! I'm just a beach bum and a summer romance."

"Bloody hell FOX! Has she ever asked you for more than that?"

"Still…" Stone started again.

"Enough!" Cooper bellowed, cutting off his excuses. "Karen is at work right now, but she'll get off at six. You two need to talk tonight, even if I have to drag you down there by your bloody oversized ears and stake them into the sand!"

The fennec fox stared at the angry wallaby in surprise. Both mammals looked at each other in silence until finally they heard another familiar voice. "Well ladies that was intense, but I think the soap opera is now over!" Reggie said. He stood down the road with his arms draped over the shoulders of two scantily dressed female meerkats. "Now which one of you girls is going to buy this hunk of surfer some breakfast?"

"Bloody hell…" was all Cooper could muster.

After watching Reggie and the giggling girls walk down the trail toward the beach, Stone turned and smiled at his friend. "So Cooper did you have fun last night? I think Reggie wasn't the only one who got lucky last night."

"Billy's just a friend. A very good and a very cute friend, but he's nothing more or nothing less."

"Sixth time you two have spent the night together this season. I'll bet he bought you breakfast too!"

"Shut up mate and yes he did."

"Did he help you with your dilemma?" Stone asked. When he saw his friend blush, he quickly added. "No, I mean about the parade float!"

"Oh yeah! He said that it was up to me of course, but I shouldn't feel forced into making any public display," Cooper replied as he sat down on a plastic chair. "He pointed out that some of the participants are a little…colorful and some are more political then I'm comfortable with being around."

"Just don't feel you have to hide your sexuality."

"I just don't want it to define who I am. I don't want to be known as the gay surfer named Cooper, but as Cooper the surfer who just so happens to be gay."

"Fair enough bro. I can respect that."

They stared down at the now smoldering fire for a while. "Thanks," Stone suddenly said. "I can always count on you Cooper."

"Any time mate," the wallaby replied with a smile.

"So brah, will you really haul me by my ears down the beach if I try to back out tonight?" the fox snickered.

"Try me!" the wallaby laughed. "If I do, one day you'll thank me for doing it too."


	16. Seasons

**Chapter 16: Seasons**

* * *

 **Stone and Cooper do the laundry and find out that things are never easy when you're small. A fox tells a cat he loves her.**

* * *

The seals have an old saying that just like the tide, the seasons roll in and then roll out. For both Stone and Cooper, they had done their best to try to stop time from intruding into their lives and to pursue that elusive endless summer dream of surf and sun. But today, the two friends strolled down the beach together and just talked. It had become a busy season for them both and they really did have time as much time for each other to just chill together as much as they should have. "The ranger will be shutting the campground down in a few weeks, after the Harvest Moon celebrations on the Strand," Stone observed. "I guess we'll be heading back over to Seaside for the winter again."

Cooper nodded and stopped to watch the waves as they rolled into the shore. "Stoney, I'm coming back after Thanksgiving and staying through the Winter Solstice, I've got a holiday job on the Boardwalk," he finally announced. "Billy's a full timer with the Carnival and he has his own room in one of the company trailers, he's offered to share it while I'm here."

"Didn't you just tell me you were only good friends?" the fox skeptically laughed. "Will you be sharing only his room and not his bed?" The wallaby's answer was a sheepish grin.

"Are you going to be okay with that mate? I hate to leave you alone during the holidays."

"Sure brah," Stone chuckled as he threw his arm over his friend's shoulder. "The holidays won't be the same without you, but I'll manage. After all, you know how we do things in Seaside! We always got something going on over there that time of the year!"

"I know, but still! Maybe you can come spend some time with your mum and see Karen?"

"It's the holiday and they'll both be slammed with work. Mom always gets a second job or two during the holidays and as for Karen, well it's another peak tourist season especially the weekend of the Holiday Parade of Boats and the sandcastle competition."

"So mate, I guess from what you just said about Karen is that you're now thinking you're not going to dump her?"

"I'm not sure, but you are right that she and I need to talk to figure out where we are going with this," the fox sighed. His friend just chuckled.

Although the waves were desperately calling him, the fox knew that he had to do something very important before tonight…his laundry. A musky fox was not a pleasant smell to many mammals, including his tent mate. Although wallabies are not renowned for their sense of smell, but even the hopper could smell when the fox got too ripe.

The laundry mat was a spartan white painted cinder block structure at the entry to the campground and inside was a row of vintage white metal washers and dryers, all made for medium or larger mammal sizes. After buying a few wolf paw sized tokens, the fox dragged the sack of laundry over to a laundry machine and then standing on a wobbly stool dropped his and Cooper's clothes into the cavernous opening. After that, he climbing to the top of the machine and poured powdered soap into the opening before dropping a few of the tokens into the coin slots. Bracing himself, he used his foot paws to push the coin bar in so that the machine would start running, but as he pushed he accidentally slid backwards and fell with a yelp right into the large opening just as the water began pouring into the machine.

"Help!" he yelled. Cooper raced to his rescue by grabbing his paw and hauling him out of the machine.

"I can see the headlines now mate," the wallaby laughed. "Famous surfer drowns in a washing machine accident…news at eleven."

"At least I'd go clean," the fox shrugged as he gave his friend a smirk.

After the washing machine was finished, came the chore of recovering their wet clothes. Again, the fox climbed onto the machine and lowered himself down inside the opening. He handed the wet clothes to Cooper who gathered them and threw them into the dryer, before helping Stone climb out of the washing machine's gaping hole.

At least the clothes dryer opened in the front, although they still had to climb on top of it to put the tokens in the machine. Lying on the top of the rumbling machine, the fox and wallaby enjoyed the shaking sensation and the warmth that the dryer gave off as it ran.

"Soooo wwwwhaaat aaaareee yoooou ggggoooing tooo teeell Kkkarrreeen?" Cooper tried to ask as he bounced around. Then he realized the vibrations had lulled the fox asleep.

Once the machine stopped, Cooper woke his best friend with a shove. "Come on sleeping beauty, let's get these things folded and put away," the wallaby laughed to the startled fox.

"Geeze bro, you scared the carp out of me!" Stone yelped. Then yawning and stretching, he climbed off the machine and helped his friend unload the machine.

"No mate!" the wallaby laughed as Stone looked down at the pile of warm clothes. "Stay out of the bloody clothes, last time you borrowed into a clean pile I smelled like fox for a week."

"Okay, Okay!" the fennec fox replied with a sad smile on his muzzle. His species loved to dig into things, an inherited trait from when the little foxes used to dig their own borrow in the desert sand.

After stowing away their clothes, Stone helped Cooper clean up around the tent and the campsite. The wallaby was much more fastidious then the fox in wanting everything clean and tidy. Finally they were done with the weekly chores.

* * *

"So do you know of any cute kittens who want to play tonight?" Stone asked ask Karen as she looked up from her desk. The sand cat was dressed in a white blouse and black slacks, her name badge hung on her left chest pocket. She sat back in her chair and looked the fennec fox over, he was wearing a light blue knit shirt and a pair of clean khaki slacks.

"You're dressed up tonight. As for wanting to play, what do you have in mind?"

"Dinner on the wharf," he suggested. His ears suddenly sagged slightly and she could tell he was nervous by the way his tail curled close to his legs.

"I'm not buying you dinner at the wharf!"

"No, I'm buying you dinner," he replied with a smile. It wasn't one of his playful smirks that he often gives her, but a genuine smile. His tail was giving a small tentative swish.

"Stone, what is this about? I'm not still mad at you."

"Karen, I'm sorry about what happened. I just want to talk to you, please let me buy you dinner." His ears were now droopy and his tail had stopped wagging.

"Fine, dinner but not at the wharf, it's too expensive!" she replied with a smile. The sight of her smile sent the fox's tail happily swishing again and she fought the urge to giggle as she watched it. "You can buy me some roasted coconut worms from the carnival's booths and a cold beer and then we'll talk on the beach. Now trot back to your tent and change into something more beach appropriate."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

She nodded and he turned to leave but she called him back over to her desk. "Hold still, I want your photo to show that you can dress up when you want to," she laughed as she pulled out her cellphone. "You're rather handsome in that outfit, but you don't look comfortable either."

"I don't wear anything but shorts most of the time," he replied with a shrug as he posed for her picture.

He ran back to the tent and changed out of the pants and slipped on his best pair of cargo short, still dressed in the polo shirt he returned to meet her for their date.

"Still looking handsome fox," she purred as she hugged and kissed him. "Now let's go get our dinner and find a bench for us to share while you tell me what so darn important."

They got their roasted worms and a couple of beers and found a relatively secluded bench to sit upon as they looked over the moon rising over the water. Stone looked back and forth at Karen in a nervous manner, barely touching his meal. She was surprised when he hopped up and walked over the railing and then back again. Sitting down next to her, he turned and looked into her confused green eyes. "Karen…its…well…Karen…I just…" he mumbled almost to himself.

"Stoney, spit it out you silly goose. What has you all tongue tied, I thought you foxes were silver tongued devils?"

The breathed in and out, before looking at her in a panicked manner. "Karen, I love you!" he spilled out the words.

He was surprised as her eyebrows arched up, her tail slightly twitched and she smiled. "I knew that already you silly fox," she giggled. But it is that what was bothering you so much, that you're in love with a cat?"

"I'm not in love with any cat," he groaned. "I'm I love with you!"

His ears were flat and his tail wrapped close to his body. "Well Mr. Kole, I'm happy that you realized that because I am in love with you too!" she replied as she reached over and bopped him on the nose with her claw. "So now that we got the obvious out of the way, don't you think we need to kiss and then find someplace to make out?"

His ears shot up straight and his tail wagged as he started to ask a question, but she silenced him with a kiss.


	17. Big Bird Attacks!

**Chapter 17: Big Bird Attacks**

* * *

 **Stone and Cooper have returned to Seaside after the campground closed and before the holidays begin. They get a very unexpected and unwelcome visitor.**

* * *

It started as a typical winter day in Seaside, the chill of the season had blown in from the North and with it a hint of frost. Stone Kole poked his nose out from under the blankets that covered the wicker basket he used for a bed. He hated the winter because the cold always hurt his sensitive large ears. Those ears flicked slightly as he heard Cooper's relatively heavy thumping tread as he hopped towards the door. A breeze of chilled air entered as the wallaby opened the camper's door.

"Bloody hell, it's cold out there!" Cooper muttered as he left the relative warm confines of their camper. The fox's ears shot up straight as the wallaby yelled a string of creative Outback obscenities as he heard the outhouse door shut. Since their campsite was mostly off the grid, there were only a few amenities outside of electricity and the camper's large propane tank they had to run the heater. Most of their cooking was done outdoors over the fire pit, although they did have a small butane camp stove for indoor use. Potable drinking water was carried in buckets from the well down the road, but they had rigged pipes to carry water from the nearby steam for use in the outdoor shower. The solar heated shower was effective only during the warmer sunlight days, but their friend Sam had rigged a strange looking creation of swirling copper pipes what could be heated by a smaller cylinder of propane. The whole thing looked like a small moonshine still and the hot water it delivered was a blessing inside of the drafty tin roofed shower shed and once they finished washing, they quickly shook themselves off as they ran for the warmth of the camper.

The fennec fox yawned as he heard his best friend humming while he was poking at the fire, trying to stoke it to life. Then suddenly Cooper went silent and he could hear the wallaby running towards the door, which flew open as his friend jumped inside and slammed it behind him.

"Holy dooley mate!" Cooper exclaimed. "Don't go out there fox, a cheeky bastard of a brute of a bird just landed outside and he looks hungry."

Stone bound out of his basket, leaving a trail of discarded blankets in his wake as he leapt onto a box that they left under the window so he was tall enough to look out the window. A massive bird that was well over four feet in height was standing nearby. It was covered with grayish blue feathers that led up its long graceful neck and then to its head, which had a long yellow deadly looking spiked beak and darker blue feathers near its eyes. As the fox looked through the window, the blue heron cocked its head as its yellow eyes sought his.

"Shit brah!" Stone yelled as the bird strolled on stiff legs closer to the window and those evil yellow eyes appeared to be trying to peer in at him. Then the bird drew back its head and suddenly pecked forward, bouncing off the window's glass.

The fox scrambled down off the box and into the center of the room. "I swear it saw me!" he yipped. "Call the sheriff! Call the air force. Call someone!"

Cooper was already on his cell phone and both animals jumped as they heard the beak strike the window again.

"If it figures out how to use a can opener, we're finished!" the fox nervously snickered as he tried to make light of the situation, but his frantic wide eyes and bristled tail betrayed his real feelings. He whimpered as the bird pecked again on the glass. The very thought of being pecked to death by the bird or even worse, swallowed whole down that beak caused him to wince. Unlike an eagle, owl, or other large bird of prey, the blue heron didn't viciously rip their prey to death but swallowed them whole. There were reports of the birds eating small mammals his size and this was a particularly big bird.

The last reported blue heron attack took place in the city several years ago when one had successfully evaded the Fish and Wildlife Ranger's aerial patrols and landed in a fountain outside of Little Rodentia. Before it could cause any more chaos it was caught by a police officer, who pounced on it as it tried to take wing. The bird did not survive the ensuing battle because the tiger was forced to break its neck to subdue it from further harm to the city. Unfortunately for Cooper and Stone, the only tiger in seaside was in her eighties and not capable of pouncing on anything except her bed.

"The sheriff said that he has someone coming over," Cooper announced.

A clucking "go-go-go" sounding cry came from outside, followed by an eerie rapid "frawnk" squawking that seemed to drag out for seconds. This was followed by another thump against the window which now was cracked.

"It don't think that windows going to hold much longer!" Cooper whispered. The wallaby had armed himself with a frying pan.

Stone's ears shot up straight as he heard a slight sound from the other side of the camper and looking out the back window, he saw a large raccoon in denim overalls was creeping towards them. Behind him was a smaller female raccoon in an old blue gingham dress with a large baseball bat in her paws.

"They called Betty and Bubba?" Stone scoffed. "What are they going to do? They're not much larger than us!" In reality, Bubba was close to twice the fox's size and weighed over forty pounds of muscle. The two coons were poultry farmers, raising chickens and quail for their eggs and meat. They were also licensed gull egg hunters and would yearly gather up or as they called it, "harvesting" the seabird's eggs to cull their population.

The camper slightly shook as the male coon agilely shimmied up its side and crept across the roof. The bird let out another frustrated squawk and tapped against the window with its sharp beak. Its evil yellow eyes peered into the camper again and Stone could swear it was looking right at him with a grin on the long deadly pointed beak.

The camper suddenly shook as the raccoon leapt off the building yelling "Yee Haw!" the larger mammal slammed on top of the bird's back, causing it to tumble onto the ground. Cooper and Stone ran over to the now cracked window and were surprised to see that Bubba had tossed an oversized fishing net over the bird and was now clinging to its neck. "Hit it Hon…" he growled.

The female raccoon came around the camper swinging the baseball bat and with a mighty thunk, hit the bird across its head. The bird shook and thrashed, but Bubba kept it on the ground as his wife swung again and finally the bird laid still.

Stone moved to the door and peeked out at the raccoons standing next to the enormous bird. "Is it dead?" he stuttered.

"I reckon so," Bubba replied with a grin. "Those guys from Fish and Wildlife ain't gonna be happy, but hell you two are still alive and that's what counts."

Cooper followed the fox out of the door and looked down at the body. "Why'd it stick around like that mate?" he asked the raccoon. "Usually they wade into the marshes and wait for their prey, but this one seemed to be trying to get in at us."

"Shoot, I figure it had a taste for fennec fox," Betty shrugged. "We'd had reports that a heron ate one up yonder along the coast. My guess this is the one and it had a hankering for fox, it wanted to chow down on Stoney."

The fox's jaw dropped open and his eyes widened as he looked down at the bird.

Bubba had disappeared, but Stone soon heard the rumble of his old pickup truck and he drove closer to the campsite. "Well hon, let's load this beast up and get it home," he said as he opened the truck's tailgate. "Those feathers should fetch a pretty penny on the market and we can't let that meat go to waste. He stopped and looked back at his wife, before adding. "I ain't ever had heron meat before, so maybe I can deep fry it for Thanksgiving?"

* * *

 **Author's note: It our reality the Blue Heron are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, under Fish and Game Code 3513 and it is illegal to kill one…so don't! This is a fanfiction alternate world run by animals and therefore has its own rules.**


	18. A Day Out With Dad

**Chapter 18: A Day Out With Dad**

* * *

 **Stone visits Storm at the prison and then spends some time with his father and Nick.**

* * *

Stone Kole sat on the bench and looked through the heavy plate widow at the other fennec fox who was sitting there dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit. "So where's your boyfriend, what's his name? You know the wallaby that is always with you when you come to visit your poor unfortunate brother?" Storm Kole sarcastically chuckled as he gave his littermate a smirk. The incarcerated fox never could muster the sly smirk, his was more of a eat shit and die look. It was apparent he was trying to get a under his brother's fur.

"He ran off with another guy," Stone sighed in a mock hurt tone as he looked around the beige painted concrete walls of the room. His best friend Cooper had left a week ago, returning to The Strand for a seasonal holiday job and back into the arms of his boyfriend. "Besides, you know I'm into cats."

"She is a cute squeeze. I could do with a piece of that tail myself. You could do worse, but how many times have I told you to marry for money and then cheat. She doesn't have any money dummy."

"With words of wisdom like that, no wonder you're behind bars,"

After a few moments more, the Stone sighed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo of Finn. "So when are you going to let dad come and see you?" he asked.

"FINN AIN'T MY FATHER!" Storm loudly snarled, drawing the attention of the guards. "Get it in that dense skull of yours that we don't have a dad!" Stone looked his brother over, his eyes and physique along with the deep voice. He was definitely Finn's child, while Stone took after his mother. "He's just a two bit hustler playing you and mom and you're just sitting back and…and letting him have his way with her!"

One of the guards stood up and looked over at Storm, but the warthog shook his head as he sat back down. "Keep it civil you two!" he snorted.

"Be nice to her!" Stone hissed. His ears were laid back and he fought to keep from showing his fangs in anger. "Mom has never been so happy! The only thing that is bothering her is you! Why can't you get yourself together and clean up your act? You know it hurts her that you're spending your life in here."

"I DID WHAT I NEEDED TO DO TO SURVIVE!" his brother growled back while slamming his fist on the table. The guard stood again and looked at the angry fox. Storm ignored the guard and continued, "We're done with this nonsense, just leave me alone."

"I'm your brother and I love you, so no I'm never leaving you alone," Stone sighed as he stood with tears in his eyes as he placed his paw on the glass. "Be safe Stormy."

His brother pressed his paw on the opposite side of the glass. "You too Stoney!" he replied before the guard came and led him away.

He walked down the long hallway and out into the sunshine, behind him loomed the grey penitentiary with its massive gates and barbed wire. Stopping, he turned and put his paw on the wire, watching as the big uniformed warthog led the small beige fox in the orange jumper across the yard towards the small mammal wing of the jail. Stone waved when he saw his brother look his way and his brother just smiled back before the door closed, then the little surfer's head touched the cold wire as he sniffled and wiped his eyes. Finally, he sighed deeply and turned to walk towards the parking lot, where Finn was waiting in the van with his friend Nick.

Finn watched his son walk across the parking lot and frowned when he saw that the younger fox's tail was dragging behind him and that was the answer to the question he wanted to ask. "Maybe next time I can see him?" he muttered to his friend Nick as he started the van while the young fox climbed into the backseat and closed the door.

"Hey, I just realized what was wrong with the van!" the Nick suddenly exclaimed in mockingly dramatic tone. "It's not backfiring anymore! He did you finally fix the carburetor?"

"Replaced the damn thing," Finn grumbled. "It cost a chunk of change, but old Shelia's now purring."

"Why are you keeping this hunk of junk?" Nick asked with a laugh. There was a smirk on his muzzle and Stone could tell he was setting his father up for something. "You need to upgrade to something newer."

"This van's got memories," Finn chuckled as he looked in the rear view mirror at his son. The younger fox's ears were lying flat as he dejectedly looked out the window. Finn knew what Nick was doing and played along. "Yeah, it has real good memories."

"Like all the times you drove around in those cute elephant pajamas you wore for our pawsicle scam?" the red fox laughed. "While sucking on a pacifier?"

Stone's ears shot up straight as he gawked at the red fox in the tacky green tropical shirt and mismatched tie. "What's that about PJs and a pacifier?" he asked.

"I'm going to get you Wilde! I'll bite your face off!" Finn yelled, but he also gave his friend a wink. It encouraged Nick to launch into the story.

By the time the larger fox finished the tale, Stone was in stitches with laughter and even Finn was chuckling. "Come on guys, let's get some beers at Mable's place," Nick suggested. "I'll buy the first round."

"Mable's place!" Finn scoffed. "You haven't been in there since she tossed you out for trying to hustle her. She said she'd kick your tail if you ever showed up again."

"She can't still be mad at me! I'll just have to use the old Wilde charm on her."

"That's what got you in trouble to start with! When we get there Stone, just stick close to your old man and stay away from this guy."

Stone grinned as Nick just rolled his eyes.

A few minutes later, the building they stood in front of was rundown and nondescript. The store had obviously sat empty for several years, as the filthy glass could attest to its having been in disuse. Stone gave Finn a confused look and the older fox just grinned in reply. "Never judge a book by its cover," his father remarked as they followed Nick down a small alleyway and down some stairs. The red fox reached over and opened a plain wooden door.

"Welcome to the Fox Den!" Nick dramatically announced as they walked into the bar. The room was spacious, with a long deep brown wooden antique bar and rows of stools. The walls were painted dark green and there were several various sized pool tables. As they walked in, the patrons looked them over and Stone was surprised to see that everyone was a fox. Fennec foxes, grey foxes, silver maned foxes, and even arctic foxes lined the bar. The majority of the mammals were however red foxes.

"I have returned," Nick announced to the room. There were mutters of welcome and several concerned looks.

"For the record Mable, I warned him," Finn laughed as he waved to the older vixen behind the bar. "Before you break him in half, I want everyone to meet my son Stone!"

Several of the foxes jumped up and gathered around them, shaking Finn's paw and patting Stone on the back. Several of the foxes recognized the surfing champion and a couple of vixens wanted his autograph.

"Wilde!" a voice feminine growled and Stone looked up too see that a vixen now stood with her arms crossed in front of Nick. "I threw you out of here five years ago and told you to never come back."

The tod looked at the vixen and submissively lowered his head. "It's been a long time, can you forgive me?"

"I guess I have to since you and that rabbit saved us all from that crazy Mayor Bellwether, or whatever her name was, and her stupid plan to make us all savages," the vixen grumbled as she turned and went back behind the bar.

"Well that's a surprise," Stone heard his dad whisper to the larger fox. "I figured she'd try to bite your face off."

The vixen rang a bell and stood on a tall stool. "Listen up you sly rogues!" she barked out. "We have two celebrities with us today! Finn's boy, Stone Kole the small board surfing champion is here. Oh yeah and also Nick Wilde, the first and only fox cop. So you need to put away your nip and other illegal paraphernalia before he busts you. One last thing Officer Wilde is buying the next round!"

"I'm not…" Nick began, but he was drowned out by the cheers as the foxes charged the bar.

Honey passed Finn a glass of bourbon with ice, confirming to Stone that his dad was a regular. "I'd ask to see your ID, but being Finn's pup you'd have a really good forgery anyways," She said with a smirk. "I don't have any of that nasty beer you've been hustling in those advertisements either."

"Hey, I got paid to do those commercials!" Stone laughed. "I'll drink what my dad's having!"

"Top shelf!" the vixen chuckled. "It's a good thing Wilde is buying."

Stone's ears flicked as he heard his father's deep laugh.

Nick returned to the bar, he was having a grand time catching up with everyone. "Wait'll he sees the tab," Finn chuckled to his son.

As the red fox sat down on a stool, just as the vixen slammed a receipt down in front of him. Nick's muzzle fell open as he looked it over. "Who ordered the Champagne!" he growled. His answer was a round of laughter from the patrons.

He fumbled around for a moment and pulled out a credit card, but the vixen shook her head. "We only take cash fox!" she said with a grin.

"I don't have that much cash on me!" Nick sighed. "Do you do pay plans?"

There was a thump on the counter as Finn slammed down a wad of cash. "Here Wilde," the fennec fox snickered. "You cops are underpaid, that's why half of you are on the graft. You really should have stayed a hustler!"

"Thanks Finn! I'll pay you back on Friday when I get my paycheck."

"With interest, twenty percent sounds about right."

"I could get a better deal from Big in T-Town," the red fox sighed. He turned to face the crowd before he walked over towards one of the pool tables. "The tab is closed, so all you no good reprobates are back on your own again!"

"Are you really going to charge him twenty percent?" Stone asked his father. "That doesn't seem fair!"

"Watch and learn kiddo," Finn whispered. "He's about to hustle those foxes at the pool table into betting he can't make a trick shot that he always makes."

An hour later they left the bar. "That rabbit has domesticated you Wilde!" Finn growled at the red fox as they walked down the sidewalk towards the van. "You have never missed that shot before you met her, she's ruined you!"

"I said I'd pay you back!" Nick grumbled. "I get paid Friday and I need to lose some weight, so I just won't eat next week."

Stone looked up at the dejected looking red fox and shook his head. "When I run out of cash, I just forage."

Finn stopped and looked at his son, "No kit of mine is going to have to dig through the trash for a meal!"

"No dad!" the younger fox laughed. "They call it urban foraging, even here in the heart of the city there are edible things to eat! You just need to know which plants are edible, where to dig for grubs and worms, catch fish, those kinds of things. Cooper and I used to do it all the time over in Seaside."

"It'd be easier to dumpster dive, Finn and I used to do it some back in the old days," Nick scoffed. "Hustling doesn't really pay that much. I once boasted to Judy that I made a couple of hundred a day, but I didn't tell her I lived under a bridge. You think Finn lives inside his van because he likes living that way?"

"Shut up Wide!" Finn growled. "I like my van, it's a lot better than that basement you call an apartment."

"At least it's got running water, sometimes even in the bathroom too and not on my bed."

"You sleep in an old oversized drawer! Not even a bed."

Stone didn't say anything because he slept in a wicker basket inside an old canvas tent or in a rickety old camper. "Are you really that broke?" he asked Nick. "I know cops don't get paid that much."

"I'm just being a little over dramatic," the Nick laughed. "As a cop I do make more money than what I spend, so I do have some savings. I'll pay your dad back tomorrow and he knows it, we're just teasing each other."

"He'd have more money if he wasn't so damn honest," the older fennec fox added as they climbed into the van. "That big red lughead is too honest to take a bribe here or there. You know how it goes! Here's a twenty officer, can you just let me go with a traffic warning instead of a ticket?"

"How much have you ever been offered?" Stone asked. "Have you ever been offered a bribe by the mob?"

"Stone!" his father barked. "You don't ask that to a cop!"

"It's okay Finn and the answer is no because I'm just a beat cop!" Nick laughed. "Although I do spend an unusual amount of time doing traffic ticket duty, Carrots says it's because I say things I shouldn't to the boss."

"Imagine that Wilde!" Finn chuckled.

"It's not my fault old Buffalo Butt makes the jokes so easy," the red fox added as he shrugged. "So Stoney, where you staying for the holidays since the campground is closed? Are you sharing the back of the van with your dad?"

"Ewww!" Stone laughed as he looked towards the back of the van. "That would be weird, I was conceived back there!"

"If you say anything Wilde, I'll pull over and make you walk home," Finn growled as he rolled his eyes.

"I'm sleeping on my mom's sofa," the younger fox continued. "At least I do some of the times."

Nick looked over at Finn with a grin on his muzzle, "Finn, I thought you've been staying there some too?"

"I don't sleep on the sofa," Finn snickered. "Besides, my son has been spending a lot of nights with a very pretty sand cat, at her place."

"I take it that it's too late for that father and son talk about the birds and the bees?" Nick chuckled and then laughed as the younger fox's ears blushed as he pulled them over his face. He was surprised because the only mammal he'd ever seen doing that before was Judy and had thought that was just a bunny trait.

They rode in silence after that and it wasn't too long before Stone nodded off.

"He's still like a big puppy," Finn grinned as he glanced back at his son. Nick just smiled at the look of love and pride his friend was showing as they continued driving down the now dark street.


	19. The Celebrity

**Chapter 19: The Celebrity**

* * *

 **A bad action movie is repackaged as a hit comedy instead and Stone makes money selling surfboards. Nick Wilde tries to give Stone fashion advice for a big charity holiday reception and then the gang has a touch ceremony on the water to say goodbye to a new friend.**

* * *

No one expected it to be a hit movie, not even Finnick. The movie had been so terrible, that the studio was going to just shelf the whole thing, that is until a group in the marketing department saw it and made an important observation that as an action spy movie it was so bad that it was funny. Quickly the studio went back to recut the film and made several major changes and re-shoots before releasing it as a comedy called _Beach Spyjinks_ just in time for the holidays. They of course rolled it out along with normal action figures, toys, and a special edition of Rip Rock surf clothes and even a Rip Rock surfboard.

Although Stone, Cooper, and Reggie didn't capitalize on the movie's popularity directly, it did trickle down to the fox when the television stations came to interview the surf slang talking four time champion fennec fox about the movie. His interviews became an overnight sensation, _"Wham! Bam! Awesome Possum!_ " Became a popular catch phrase and Stone became an even bigger beach celebrity. It was then that Sandfly's father, who owned one of the largest independent surf shops on The Strand, came to him with an offer of a commission paying job selling surf boards in his store during the holidays.

"Look Stone," Finn told his son about a week after he had started his new job. "You know that most of those boards are only going to see the water a few times before they end up in some garage sale when the next hot trend starts. You're also smart enough to know who is going to be a serious surfer and who is just buying their kit the big newest best item for the holiday, so use that noggin of yours. If daddy and mommy have the cash to splurge, sell them the more expensive stuff because the more they pay, the more you make!"

"I know, but it's kind of like ripping someone off."

"No its not, it's called being in sales, they walk away happy with the deal and you walk away happy with the commission. Both of you will be happy. Up the deal by offering to sign the board for free! Then they'll think they won big time!"

Stone realized that his father's advice made sense and Sandfly's father was ecstatic with his sale performance over the next few weeks. Two weeks before the Winter Solstice Evening holiday, they even had Reggie and Cooper join him for a special signing on a Saturday morning and the event was so popular that they had to have the ZPD do traffic control in front of the store. That night, he sat around with Sandfly and his father as they balanced the sales for the evening. "We've got a slight problem boys," the elated older wolf laughed. "We're running out of stock!"

"Those cheap Rip Rock surfboards are flying off the shelf," Sandfly added. "We've got a waiting list for the boards already, but I'm not taking any more orders because I don't think our supplier can get their back orders filled before the holidays."

"You're idea of the autographed group photo of Stoney, Cooper, and Reggie was brilliant son," Sandfly's father laughed. "A free photograph with every surf board purchased! That got some of the older stock moving again. Stone you're great at this business and I'm sorry I can't keep you year round. But you know that once the holidays are over, things will be tapering off until late spring."

"I know, but it's been an awesome ride while it lasted," Stone sighed. "But I've managed to save up a few bucks."

"You're a smart dude," Sandfly observed. "Many of the other guys on the beach spend the bucks as fast as they make them. So, have they contacted you about doing the sequel?"

"No yet, but I can tell you that I'm going to ask more than just a mere thousand bucks this time. If I had trademarked Awesome Possum, I'd be rich by now."

"Everyone knows who said it first! It was a cheap shot for them to use it in the movie's ads without crediting you, but hey that's show business!"

"Rip Rock's agent is still bugging me to make an appearance at one of his holiday parties. Can you see me in a tuxedo? I don't even own a suit!"

But Stone soon found himself cornered and having to agree to attend a party, mainly because it was to raise money for the downtown Children's Hospital's Cancer Fund. He had been especially asked to go as her date by Susie Reynardson, a special young teenage fox who was gravely ill with an aggressive form of mastocytoma.

"We can't have you showing up looking like a penguin," Nick Wilde scoffed as he looked at the young fox in his rented tuxedo. "Come on, your going to my mother's house and we are going to see what we can do to make you look more like a surfer and not some joker on a prom date!"

"I could never accuse you of being a fashionable dresser Wilde," Finn laughed. "You always wear one of those cheap tropical shirts with that same tie. It took me forever before I realized you never learned how to tie a knot and only slipped on one of the two ties that you already had tied."

"I'm a trend setter," Nick objected as he put his paws on his tropical shirt. "It's my dashing sense of style."

"Lack of style!"

"Well, look at little Lord Mucky Mucky in his bowling shirt with its black with red stripe. You call that fashion sense? No one wears bowling shirts anymore."

"Is your mother a tailor?" Stone asked, trying to divert their attention back to his dilemma.

"Seamstress, but a really good one, my dad was a tailor but he died when I was just two," the larger fox sighed. "Mom will know what you need to do to spiff yourself up enough to make you look classy but cool."

Nick's mother managed to hobble a vest together using one of Nick's old shirts that had some palm trees and surfboards on it. They also dug around and found a seashell that she turned into a neck brooch to replace the bow tie. "There you go young fox," the vixen laughed as she took him to the mirror. He had to admit she did a great job and he certainly didn't look like a penguin.

* * *

He showed up at the hospital all ready to pick up his date, but he was instead met by one of the studio's public relations guy and Susie's father, a thin worn looking red fox in a rumpled shirt and khaki pants.

"She took a turn for the worse Mister Kole," his date's father said to him in the hallway. She was so looking forward to going with you to the gala, but well she's back in ICU."

The small fox looked down the hospital's long hallway, with its institutional white tiles and the light blue walls with cheery prints of flowers and butterflies. "Is she awake Mister Reynardson?" Stone finally asked. He was quite dashing in his tuxedo with the tropical surfboard vest. "Is there any way I can see her?"

"Stone the studio said she had a speech…" his fussy handler from the studio began to interject.

"I didn't promise the studio anything," the fennic fox snapped back. "I promised a date with Susie and she is going to get her date!"

"But Mister Kole!" the woodchuck in the stylish grey suit objected.

"Work something out dude!" the fox snapped. "I'm on a date, so call my agent and work it out with him."

Stone followed the older red fox through the cancer ward doors, leaving the bewildered woodchuck behind. "But you don't have an agent!" he yelled.

The door shut behind him as he walked towards the ICU's waiting room. It was even drabber in this area, everything was a sterile white. A television mindlessly droned on in the corner and there were seats for the family to wait. A pretty vixen was standing there with tears in her eyes. "Millie this is Mister Kole," Susie's father said. "He said he had a date with our daughter and the doc said that he can spend some time with her, if that's okay with you?"

"Thank you Mister Kole, Susie was so excited and then she…she…" Millie sniffled. She hesitated and pointed her paw at the television set. "Are you sure, you're missing the gala and I know how important those events are for you actors?"

"Please call me Stone," he replied and tried to force a smile. "I'm a surfer and not an actor, so that red carpet nonsense…well I only agreed to go to the gala because Susie asked me. So let me suit up and meet my date."

"You look so nice in that tux, it's a shame to cover it up with those scrubs without Susie-Q seeing how dashing her date is tonight," a nurse sighed. "So go stand over by the window and I'll take your picture with my phone and we'll print a copy on the color printer, that way you can show Susie."

* * *

"So where's the fox?" one of the television so called "emcees" complained. She was interviewing the stars as they came down the red carpet. Her questions were the typical mindless movie star dribble while oohing and ahhing over a dress or a tux. Stone Kole was supposed to be here with the sick puppy, so she could do her big cutesy interview. But the surfer hadn't shown up. "He probably backed out, never trust a fox!"

Rip Rock had been around show business for a long time and was now a famous star. He hadn't wanted to do this film, but the money was too good to turn down and he knew it was going to be a flop even while they were filming. The veteran actor had been surprised that the movie had been remade into a hit comedy and found it humorous that he was getting praised for his comedic genius. The aging muscular bull was half listening to the boring diamond studded sow in her expensive designer black gown who was standing in front of him. He was glanced over at the studio's PR guys and realized that there was a problem. He also knew that those bozos were too melodramatic to handle any crises. "Excuse me dear, I think I'm needed," he finally said as he smiled down at the sow. No unencumbered, he walking over and looked down at the studio guys. "You idiots are running around in a panic, so talk."

They told him about how Stone was supposed to escort Susie Reynardson to the event and she was going to answer some questions about her illness and then the hospital, the little girl's speech was an important part of the show. He finally pinched his snout and grumbled, "The just get a camera crew over there and have that red carpet bubbly bimbo do her interview remotely."

"But Kole hasn't been coached on what to say?" the kudu actually whined.

The interview with Stone at the hospital went better than anticipated, the hostess asked her questions to the fox and he would reply in surf lingo. The back and forth became rather entertaining and even Susie giggled, setting off a coughing spell. He totally and purposely mispronounced the name of the leading designer who was Susie's dress maker and then when the hostess corrected him, he shrugged and told her they didn't make surfboards. Finally Stone got serious as he read the speech that they had prepared for Susie to say on the red carpet. All about her illness and her wanting to beat it so she could grow up to be a surfer. After he finished, he grimly pulled the mask over his muzzle and returned to sit with her in the ICU while holding her paw. There wasn't a dry eye in the building as the camera zoomed in on the couple before fading out.

Stone spent another hour with her, before they told him that he had to leave. He squeezed her paw and promised to return to see her in a few days, but he got the phone call early the next morning that she had passed at away. He borrowed his dad's suit, which was a tad too large, and along with Cooper and Reggie attended the funeral.

Later that afternoon they pulled on their wetsuits before gathering with some of their other surfer friends and grabbed their boards. Padding out beyond the waves they formed in a circle and were soon joined by even more surfers, some bodysurfing seals, and even a couple of champion wavedancer dolphins. Stone floated a photo into the center of their circle of the little girl who wanted to be a surfer and then after some prayers, they threw flowers and leis into the center of the circle.

"What are they doing?" a tourist asked a bartender as she looked out of a window at the group in the ocean who were now howling, yowling, and yelling as they splashed the water.

"It's a Paddle Out, a surfer's funeral," he grimly answered. "They're saying goodbye to one of their own."


	20. Distractions

**Chapter 20: Distractions**

* * *

 **Stone has dinner with Cooper and his brother. The two friends catch up with each other on their lives.**

* * *

Stone looked over at the two wallabies, Cooper was just like a younger version of his brother Sam. "So dad actually had something good to say about you last week," the older hopper chuckled.

"I doubt it," Cooper sarcastically replied. "He must be getting senile or something and forgot who I was!"

"He signed a big development deal with Hoppington."

"Tommy Hoppington, so what?"

"No, Miss Areline Hoppington," his brother corrected him as he leaned forward over the café table. "Areline, not Tommy!"

"Did he know?" Cooper asked with a big grin on his face.

"Nope! He complimented Big Tom on what a great and talented daughter he had and then went as far as saying that it was too bad you were…well you know what he calls you…because you two would make a great pair."

"How did Tommy and Areline take that?"

Stone was totally confused with what was going on, he knew that Cooper's father did not like his son being gay and even went as far as telling others his son was mentally ill.

"So he says this and Tommy's ears are twitching, I thought he blew the deal. Then dad excuses himself and heads to the dunny to take a wiz and Areline follows him in. You could bloody well hear his yell when she hiked her skirt up and took a piss in the loo next to his. He about tripped over his foot paws stumbling to get out."

"Areline is transgender," Cooper explained to Stone after he finished laughing. "Tell dad that she's a little too feminine for my tastes."

"We kept the deal, but Calvin is now in charge. On the way home he told me that you may be gay, but at least you know you're a guy."

"No much of a compliment, but I'll take it."

"Mom dragged us all out to see that movie too. Dad didn't even object and those few moments you were on the screen, he sat up and I saw him smile. I think he does miss you, he's just too proud to admit he's wrong."

"He knows…" Cooper began to interject, but his brother held his paw up to silence him.

"Let me finish mate. I saw him holding your photo as he stood on the balcony a few nights ago and there were tears in his eyes. The holidays are hard on him, hard on all of us without you."

"He knows all he needs to do is say I'm sorry and accept who I am."

"Yeah, I know…"

They sat in silence, mostly shoving their food around their plate since no one seemed to have much of an appetite. Finally Sam smiled and turned to Stone. "So my obnoxious little brother has told me you've reconnected with you father."

"Yeah, he didn't even know we were alive," Stone replied. "You should have seen his face when he found out!"

"He even stopped punching you," Cooper chuckled.

"He thought I was pulling a hustle on him. Anyways, we're back together and he's even dating my mom again."

"What are we without our bloody family problems?" Sam sighed to this brother. "Your friend finds a father he didn't know and you lose one you did know. But we're not here to moan and groan about our parents, but to discuss your being asked to be in the movie's sequel."

"Yeah bro, they even said we'd have speaking parts this time!" Stone excitedly replied.

"So mate, who's your agent," the older wallaby asked as he shoved his plate aside.

"Stone's dad renegotiated for us last time," Cooper answered. A fair dinkum deal that was too!"

"He got us a thousand dollars each!" Stone added with pride.

"So your dad got you a thousand bucks for your part in a movie that grossed almost a billion and you think that was good?" Sam sighed and then he sat up straight before adding. "Actually that was really good because the average pay for an extra is around eight to twelve bucks an hour, but you did do some stunts."

"We didn't do any stunts, we only surfed." Stone said as he looked over at Cooper who just nodded.

"Still a stunt pays more," the wallaby replied. "The first thing I need to do is find you an agent. Do you have any idea how much script you're getting?"

* * *

The two friends walked along the beach, looking over at the lights of the boardwalk which was decorated even more festive for the holidays. "I didn't want to ask this in front of your brother, but things going okay with Billy?" the fox asked.

"I think I'm in love mate," Cooper sighed. "He's funny, romantic, and cares about me. What about you and Karen?"

"Smitten to the bone brah."

"Have you two discussed maybe getting married?"

"I've thought about asking her…hey, are you thinking about marrying Billy?"

"We've toyed with the idea. I 'm just worried that it'll end any chance of reconciling with my dad."

"Does he know you've got money coming in a few years, you know your inheritance?" Stone asked in a concerned voice. He just didn't want his best friend getting caught in a hustle. The thought that Billy was only using Cooper for his money was in the back of the fox's mind. Unlike Cooper, Stone had grown up in world were you had to be careful or someone might use you and then discard you. Trusting someone was a hard thing for the fox to do, he and Storm had been burned even by family members before. When he first met Cooper, the hopper's naivety was something Stone did take advantage of but the wallaby soon earned his friendship and now the fox still worried about him. He also reflected that without Karen in his life, he might have even been jealous of Billy taking his best friend away from him.

"He knows my family has money, but he's not a street punk," Cooper replied. The wallaby knew exactly what the fox was concerned about. "He grew up in a nice middle class home but when he came out, his parents threw him out of the house. Tough love they called it, thinking it was a phase of life he'd grow out of it. He came here with a much older street smart boyfriend who used and left him after he became bored."

"Tough life!"

"Not really mate, his parents came around a few years ago and he has his family back. We even had Sunday brunch last weekend, his mom hugged me and his dad was super nice. The thing is mate that the carnival gets in your blood, each day is an adventure and the workers are like family."

"You forget I know most of them. I grew up along the Strand."

They walked further up the shore in silence. "I don't think I'm going back to Seaside anytime soon mate," Cooper sighed. "I'm staying here after the holidays."

"Wasn't expecting you to do so bro," Stone sighed. "I'm not enthusiastic about going back myself. We're changing Cooper, growing up."

"Speaking of changing, I've got to change cloths and get back to my job."

The two friends hugged and Stone watched as his best friend hopped away.

The winter breeze blew across the beach as Stone watch the surf crashing against the sand. As he stood there, he suddenly realized that it had been almost a week since he had hit the waves. Work and Karen had distracted him from the surf, sure the water even here was colder this time of year but that had never kept him and Cooper from pulling on their wetsuits and surfing.

As he walked along, the water tickled his paws as it ran up the sand and then flowed back. Earlier this year it was surfing first and then Karen, now it was only Karen that occupied his thoughts. The sea called the fox, but he just pulled his jacket collar tighter as he walked along the sand and thought about those green eyes waiting for him at the bar on the pier.


	21. Relationships

**Chapter 21: Relationships**

* * *

 **Momma Cat lays down the law.**

* * *

It was morning and the bright winter sun shone though the ruffled pink and blue bedroom window curtains, beyond them Stone Kole could hear the soothing sound of the surf. He wasn't cold, far from it, but he pushed his muzzle further into the warmth that was in front of him and inhaled her scent. She moved slightly before he felt her paw on his back, kneading his fur and then she sighed. "I know that you foxes like to dig, but that's my side Stoney!" she whispered.

"And a gorgeous side you have my lover," he gave a muffled reply. He moved his muzzle up along her tan and cream colored side, licking and nibbling as he went until he found her mouth. As he pulled her closer to him, she began purring.

After a few kisses, she suddenly pushed back slightly before protesting. "I need to go to the bathroom and then we need to clean this room before my parents get here this afternoon, it doesn't need to smell like male fox."

She giggled as he gave a little whine of protest when she covered her body with her robe. "You know my sister lives here too," she whispered back at him and giggled again as his ears twitched. Lying back down, he closed his eyes as he heard her padding down the hallway and then after the sound of flushing water, his ears shot up as he suddenly heard the shower start.

"I could definitely use a shower!" he spoke to himself and quickly pulled on his shorts. He stepped out of the bedroom into the hallway and looked around before he carefully opened the bathroom door and slipped inside. The warm moist air was filling the room as he dropped his shorts, pulled back the shower curtain and stepped in to join her. She didn't protest too much, but giggled as he reached out with his paws.

They spent most of the day cleaning the apartment, getting it ready for Karen's family to arrive that evening for the holiday festivities. It was just a few nights before the big celebration called the Winter's Eve, the night before the Winter Solstice, which was traditionally a feast night dedicated the Great Lamb. Family and friends would gather for a late dinner along with the night's festivities, while waiting for the morning's rising of the sun. Karen's family followed the traditional coastal holiday menu of serving seven courses of seafood and it was a meal that Stone was invited to attend because they knew the fox's mother was working as a server for a catering company that evening and would be working all night, right up to and after the sunrise services. He declined because he knew Karen was working the late shift at the hotel and he did not feel comfortable being with her family without her present.

He helped her strip the bed sheets and change them with fresh linens, taking the soiled sheets, the bathroom towels, her robe and anything else that Stone may have come into contact with to the laundry. By the late afternoon the place appeared spotless and was to Karen's satisfaction as Stone left to put a few more hours of work in at the surf shop. He was expected back that evening for dinner.

For the small fox it seemed that minutes turned into hours and although the store was busy with last minute shoppers picking over what was left of the inventory, but most had come for Stone's autograph for their kit. "Well that's it for the day!" Sandfly said. "Dad and I will finish cleaning up. I know you're expected for dinner at Karen's place tonight. Good luck with her old man, I hope he doesn't catch wind with what you've been doing with his daughter because you've got work tomorrow and a skinned fox isn't something that our customer's really want to see!"

Stone grinned and replied with an obscene gesture that caused the skinny wolf to laugh. The Boardwalk was crowded with holiday shoppers and Stone felt a little ashamed of leaving Sandfly and his father at the store alone for the evening, but he had promised Karen he would come to dinner. He hurried along under the twinkling lights and the greenery, past the line of children waiting to see the city's surfer version of Santa Paws. He was greeted by several locals as he hurried on towards Karen's family's condominium, more than a few times he stopped and signed an autograph for a fan or posed for a picture.

Karen's place was packed as it always was when her family arrived, since she had four sisters and three brothers. He was greeted by her father Chuck, who patted him on the back and handed him a beer. "So kitten says you've been working at the surf shop this winter?" the heavy set tomcat in the blue sweater and jeans said as he led the fox into the kitchen. "I worked in retail when I was your age and it's a great start in life, but just don't tell me that you've given up surfing!"

"Oh no, but I've really hadn't had much time to hit the waves lately," the fox shrugged. "You know how busy retail is during the holidays!"

"I heard that they're making a sequel to Beach Spyjinks, are you going to be in the film?" .

"The studio has contacted me, Cooper, and Reggie. My agent is working out the details."

"Are they really going to film it on one of those southern tropical islands?" I've always wanted to go to one with Betsy, but never could afford to do so. I think my daughter will miss you when you leave."

"I'll miss her too," the fox replied. Karen found him before her father could continue asking questions and after a brief kiss, pulled him back into the room so he could go with her and her sister to get the fried fish dinners they had ordered from the corner deli.

The older cat just chuckled at the couple and then looked out over the ocean.

Dinner was a boisterous affair, everyone laughing and talking. Stone found himself peppered with questions from Karen's sisters and brothers about the movie.

"What is Rip Rock really like?"

"Did you get his autograph?"

"Can I have your autograph?"

"Do you have a Rip Rock surfboard?"

Finally, after they finished eating, everyone but Karen's mother got ready to go see the holiday lights along the Boardwalk. "Honey can you and Stoney stay and help me clean up?" she asked. "We can join everyone later."

Stone helped Karen clean up the trash and as he was preparing to take the garbage out to the dumpster, Karen's mother called out. "Kitten could you run down to the car? I think I left my reading glasses on the dashboard."

Stone watched as Karen closed the door and as he turned back towards the kitchen, he faced the middle aged feline who was sweetly smiling at him and knew he was in trouble by the way her tail was twitching. "So Mister Kole, you've been spending the nights with my daughter?"

His tail instinctively wrapped protectively around his legs, as his ears drooped.

"Don't deny it young fox, next time you two clean this place up you might want to clean the fox fur out the bathroom drain strainer. Also I found the bottle of Scent Mark Off Shampoo under the sink!"

"I…I don't know what to say? Except I love your daughter and she loves me."

"So you're not just using her?" the cat asked, it was then that he noticed her claws were showing.

"I would never do that to Karen!"

"She may be a grown cat, but to me she is always going to be my little kitten. I'm not naïve, but you two really need to be more careful. I doubt Chuck would be this understanding. But know this Mister Kole, that if you hurt her I will hunt you down."

Karen opened the door and looked at her mother standing in front of the frightened looking fox. "She knows?" was all the younger cat could say.

"Why yes dear I do," her mother snapped. "But at least I don't have to give you the lecture about being careful, like I did your sister when she was catting around with that randy tomcat. After all fox, you can't get my daughter pregnant."

"Mother!" Karen wailed.

"Oh don't mother me! I expect that you two will let your father know in due time what you've been up to and don't let him bully you either, at your age we were both as guilty. Now come on everyone is waiting for us down on the Boardwalk, let's have fun."

"Mommy!"

Stone peeked out from behind his ears, which he had pulled down over his face, as if he could hide from the momma cat, and knew it was one of those times to just be quiet.


	22. Paradise Calls

**Chapter 23: Paradise Calls**

* * *

 **Stone discusses Nick and Judy with his dad. Karen gets some big news and then another momma almost catches them in a compromising position.**

* * *

His father's van was parked in a sandy alleyway near the downtown section of Sahara Square and the two foxes sat on the bumper enjoying the artificial heat as they drank their beers. "I want to see Wilde's face when you tell him your big news," Finn chuckled in his deep voice. "Big Red always talked about going to the islands, but he never makes it too far out of town. Well, that's not true because he does get dragged over to the Tri-Burrows by the bunny."

"Just what is going on between those two?" Stone Kole asked as he watched is father take another swill from his beer, the older fennec fox was wearing another bowling shirt, but this one was dark blue with a yellow stripe. The thought quickly crossed his mind that maybe he might start wearing those types of shirts too, instead of the tee shirts with surf company logos that he wore. Then he remembered his shirts were free promotional items, like the mint green shirt with the gecko holding a surfboard logo that he was currently wearing. "Last week he made a big scene about those two getting an apartment together just to save costs, but when we helped them move there was only one bedroom."

"Yeah, a fox sweet on a rabbit!" Finn replied as he took a swallow of his brew and then looking over at this son, he added. "It's kind of like a fox and a cat."

"Stone's ears drooped in embarrassment. "Point taken, but why are they hiding their relationship from others?"

"The cops probably frown on partners being involved like that. So why are you trying to hide your relationship with Karen from her father?"

Stone chocked on his beer and looked over at his father with wide eyes. "But…she…well…" he stuttered.

"You really didn't think your mother and I haven't caught on that you are sneaking into her place when her family isn't there? Look, just like Wilde, sooner or later the two of you are going to get caught. Don't you think you should make your intentions known to her family?"

"I guess so? It's that I'm not exactly the same species, there's the fox thing…she's a cat…no grandkittens…you know! I don't have a job either. I'm just a beach bum."

"First, you kissed her on national television. Second, you are always hanging around her all the time. Third, your scent can't be hidden even to a tomcat," Finn began counting down on his paw. "What I am saying son is that her dad isn't that dumb, he probably already knows what you two are up to."

"What if we tell her parents and they say no?"

"Then they say no. At least you're being honest and you're both adults who can do what you please."

"Great, I'm being lectured about honesty by a hustler! Is that one of those so called do what I say and not what I do lectures?"

"Exactly!" Finn laughed as he hugged his son. "And your momma told me that your brother was the smart one!"

"Thanks…I think!" Stone chuckled.

"Come on sport, I'll buy you some tacos," Finn said before he chugged the last of his beer down.

* * *

The Boardwalk during the holidays was a magical place for families to visit and a busy one too. Holiday lights twinkled and music blared with traditional winter songs. Despite the fact that her family had arrived, Karen still had to work long hours because the hotel she worked at was booked and she really didn't have much free time for either Stoney or her family. The fox was also at the store most of the day and night, selling the dwindling inventory to the last minute shoppers. Sandfly had even been able to get his paws on a small order of Rip Rock Surfboards, which was one of the "hot items" of the year, and little Stoney was almost crushed by the stampede into the store when they opened the door.

Around dinner time, he did slip out and shared a brief dinner of a roasted mealworms salad with Karen at a secluded spot inside the hotel where she worked. "Well tomorrow night is the big party and I was hoping I could be there for the whole meal but once again I'll be at the front desk until midnight, she said as they sat down and ate. "Mom says you're welcome to join them for the dinner, doesn't the store shut down at six?"

"Nine, but we're pretty well out of inventory anyways," Stone shrugged. "Cooper said the carnival is running all night to within an hour of dawn, he looks tired. Happy, but tired."

"Well at least he gets overtime. The joy of being salaried is they can work your tail off for the same pay."

"You look tired too," he said as he knelt, took one of her foot paws and began massaging. He looked lovingly up at her. She was very pretty in her very professional blue skirted suit and plain white blouse. There was a sprig of holly pinned on her jacket's lapel, just above her gold plastic name badge.

She stiffened up slightly as his paw continued its kneading and sighed. "Have I told you that I love you?"

"Yes, but I like hearing you say it," he chuckled as he began messaging her other foot paw.

"In a few days everything will quiet back down around here and my parents will be gone. Then it's just you and me."

"I'll be out of a job. I should be going back to Seaside and get back to practicing, although I won't have a partner and we never surf alone. Maybe you could take some time off and come with me, the love shack awaits?"

"Temping, but why not stay and practice here on the Strand? There are plenty of other surfers around."

"My mom may love me, but she's used to being alone and is getting snappy with me being around so much, she needs her privacy."

"There's my place."

"Yeah, let me tell your dad that I moving in with his daughter!"

Her paw reached over and caressed his cheek fur. "I wouldn't object to a place of our own," she half purred. "I can afford to rent a small one bedroom apartment off the beach, we could live there."

His paw stopped momentarily as he looked up at her, "Look I'm not going to mooch off you, that is not fair. I've been thinking about finding a regular paying job around here anyways."

"Stoney, you're giving up surfing? You can't do that, you love the sport!"

"I love you more," he said as his paws began to message her legs. He smiled as she began to purr and didn't realize he had started to do so himself.

A voice startled them both, causing Stone to give another one of those noises that a fennec fox is known to make, which was a rather annoying high pitched yippish yowl. He looked up in embarrassment at the intruder, a portly middle aged porcupine in a blue suit.

Karen stood up, moving with that feline grace that the fox admired, and faced her manager. "Mister Quill, I was just taking my lunch break," she said in a defensive voice. Stone suppressed a growl because he didn't much care for the hotel manger's treatment of his staff.

The porcupine looked down at the knelling fox with a wry smile. "I had forgotten about you!" he snorted and slightly rolled his eyes. "That might explain the phone call from corporate."

"Sir?" Karen asked because the manager had stopped speaking and was staring at Stone with a disgusted frown.

The manager blinked a few times before he looked back at her again and he then gave her a halfhearted smile, which was his version of a smirk. "I got a phone call from the VP of Special Services and after the holidays, they want to transfer you to our Del Sandy Tropical Resort on Saint Sylvester Island for six to eight weeks. It seems that they are filming a movie and your presence was requested by Rip Rock himself. I told him that would leave us understaffed during Spring Break, but…."

"I'm going to the Del Sandy!" the cat said in an excited voice. "Really! Did you hear the Stoney! Del Sandy!"

"Imagine that," the fox snickered as the cat hugged him.

* * *

It was late in the evening when they both finally found sometime for themselves and she was cradled in his arms as they lounged on his mother's sofa. "So Saint Sylvester Island is where all the rich and famous hang out, the resort is located on a peninsula on the island's northern end and consists of thirty six acres of luxury huts and even yurts for what do they call it?" she purred.

He ran his paw along the fur on her cheek before answering, "Camping, trust me I'm an expert."

She twisted her body so he could see her excited eyes. "It's called glamping, you silly fox!" she giggled. "They call it glamping because it's glamorous camping in yurts and not ratty old tents."

"Ouch, you dissed my summer abode," he huskily chuckled as his paw slipped down towards her chest. "What kind of prude have I fallen in love with?"

"No, stop that you horny fox! Last time we did it here, your mother smelled our scent when she got home and knew exactly what we were up to!"

"I bought a new can of Scent Off!" he objected as she squirmed and giggled because he had pulled her shirt up and was tickling her flanks.

"You bought that because your father keeps coming over to visit her at night and leaves in the morning," she laughed as she sat up and scooted out of his reach.

"My dad's my role model," he replied with a grin as her stalked towards her, but before he could pounce there was the sound of a key in the door's lock and the rattling of the door knob. Stone gave her a disappointed look as he sat back and pulled a throw blanket over his lap to hide his discomfort.

"Hello!" Stone's mother cheerfully greeted them as she entered the apartment. She was dressed in a motel maid's smock and stopped to sniff the air as she walked in the room. "Really, you two are at it again? Well, I'm just changing clothes and I can't stay to chat because I've got a server's job with the catering company tonight."

She rushed into the bedroom and shut the door. "That was close!" Karen whispered as she crawled over to Stone and snuggled back in his arms.

"Shhh!" the fox replied as he held a digit to her lips and then pointed to his ears.

"Yes, dear I can hear you!" his mother called out from inside her bedroom. "It's bad enough to walk into a room and smell that your son is randy and his girlfriend is too! You can't hide those kinds of things from a fox's noise, so after I leave please use that can of Scent Off that you bought!"

"Mom!" Stone protested as she came back and looked at the two lovers on the sofa. The cat had pulled a throw pillow over her face and her son had pulled his ears down over his blushing face.

"Now you two have fun!" she grinned as she adjusted the collar on her black and white tuxedo looking outfit. She gave them a wave as she opened the front door and then blew a kiss before she shut it behind her.

"Mom!" Stone wailed again as the door shut with a click and then he grunted as an armful of cat pounced on him with a seductive growl.


	23. A Freak of Nature

**Chapter 23: A Freak of Nature**

* * *

 **The holiday celebrations begin in earnest, but even in a modern city like Zootopia there is only so much that mere mortals can control.**

* * *

"Have a blessed Winter's Eve!" Stone Kohl called out to Sandfly and his father before they locked up the surf shop. He adjusted his light jacket's collar as he walked down the Boardwalk towards the Carnival. The Boardwalk was most empty, because there were not currently very many other mammals still out and about during this time of the holiday evening. Traditionally the Winter's Eve dinner began with the sight of the Northern Star and lasted for several hours, therefore most of the families were in the middle of their evening's feast. Once the feast ended within an hour or so, the crowds would return for their late night revelry. He shoved his paws into his jacket and looked around before spying his favorite carney. "Cooper!" he yelled at the wallaby in the red and white stripped jacket.

The hopper turned and looked over at the fox and waved. "So what plans do you have for tonight mate?" he called out as Stone rushed over and hugged him.

"Not many bro, Susan's boss is mad with her again so she now has to work until one in the morning and mom's working a catering job that lasts until after the sunrise services and morning feast. You're working all night too?"

"Yeah, all hands on deck until about an hour before sunrise and then we shut down until noon," the wallaby answered as he finished taking tickets for the next group of riders on the merry-go-round. "Hold on Stoney, I need to check to make sure everyone is seated before I start the ride up."

Stone watched as the wallaby slowly circled the ride and made sure that everyone was safely aboard before returning to the booth and throwing the switch. It was obvious that his best friend enjoyed his job and took it serious, because he kept an eye on everything. The music was almost deafening to the fox's large ears, but he listened as his friend gave him an explanation on how everything worked.

As the ride slowed down, Stone finally got to ask his question. "Have you heard from your brother or the agent?" he called out.

"Contracts are in and everything is looking great. It's a go and a nice pawful of cash along with six weeks on the tropical island."

He watched as the ride came to a stop and Cooper circled the merry-go-round, making sure everyone got safely off. They looked over and saw that no one was now in line. "It's that dead time during the feast, so we're about the only ones around right now. Say, why didn't you go to Karen's parents place like you were invited?"

"Not without her brah, that would be awkward. Nah, I think I'll go take a nap back at my mother's place for a few hours and come back when Karen gets off of work."

Unbeknownst to the two friends, a monster was forming off the coast, born and driven by a storm far from the shoreline and tucked away within the normal waves, the old seafolk legends of the King Wave or the Seventh Wave was about make mammalian history again, the first since the last one hit Outback Island in the 50's.

* * *

Hours later, the fennic fox stretched as his phone's alarm warned him of the time and he rubbed his fur, trying to wake up and prepare for the long morning ahead. Stone had slept curled up on his mother's sofa, dreaming of the green eyes which awaited him on the Boardwalk. He rinsed his face and under his arm pits, hoping that he hadn't gotten too foxy in his musk from the day's work and confident that a good application of Musk Off deodorant would make him presentable. Then drying himself and carefully combing his fur, especially his tail because that was always a fox's pride, he finally felt prepared. He pulled on a festive green and red long sleeve tee shirt and a pair of khaki cargo shorts. Satisfied with his look, he grabbed his light jacket and took off down the street towards the waterfront.

The Boardwalk was much different than it had been a few hours earlier as mammals of all sizes and types enjoyed the festivities, especial the carnival. Jugglers and dancers entertained the crowd as music blared along the wooden walkway. The fox smiled as he sniffed the holiday aromas in the air, roasted chestnuts and gingerbread intermingled with the cloves and cinnamon of mulled wine. His stomach rumbled, for unlike most of the revealers, he hadn't had a big feast. A lion roared and he looked over to see that he was dressed as Santa Paws and was handing out sweets to the children. He ducked as a sow in a pink tutu danced along, placing boxwood and flower garlands on the heads on those she passed. Behind the lion came a small lamb dressed in white robes wearing a wreath of electric candles upon her head and angel wings upon her back, she too handed out sweets. She was representing the Meek Lamb, who's sacred holiday they were celebrating. The lamb giggled as she danced along and for a moment her eyes caught the fox's before she happily skipped out onto the beach.

Pulling himself up onto the railing, he saw Karen in the distance and tried to work his way through the crowd, but found himself frustrated by the masses. He gave one of those embarrassing fennec yelpish yowls of surprise as a pair of grey muscular hoofs picked him up and perched him on a large shoulder. "Stoney!" The hippo formally known as the wrestler Mvubue the Mangler, laughed. "Watch where you're going my friend!"

"Sorry Mister Mvubu, but I was just trying to get to Karen over by the hotel. "It's getting very crowded out here, a little too much for us small guys."

"Well the boys are in the carnival and they will find me when they need more money, so let me be your ride to the embrace of your true love my friend!"

"For a guy with the nickname The Mangler, you have a romantic heart," the fox observed as his friend lumbered his way through the crowd towards the hotel. This caused his ride to give a hearty merry laugh before he stopped and looked down at the smiling cat.

"I have delivered your fox my dear!" he announced as Stone leaped from his shoulder into his hoofs. "This is my Winter's Eve gift to one so beautiful! Now you two have fun and watch out for the Dangledober!"

"The Dangledober?" Karen asked with a giggle.

"Ah, yes The Dangledober, is an old legend from the Great Savannah," the hippo chuckled. "He steals everything you lose, like that missing left glove, your keys, you know?"

"Yes I do, but not boyfriends I see," she giggled back at the smiling hippo.

"Of course not, he's afraid of hippos!" the big former wrestler bellowed with outstretched arms to the amusement of everyone around him. "So I bid you farewell my young lovers!"

Stone and Karen watched the big guy as he strolled happily away down the walkway.

"So Mr. Kole, are you ready to have some fun?" she asked with a smile.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked as he pulled her closer and sniffed her neck. "I can think of all kinds of fun things to do with you right now."

"None of which my parents would approve of my dear fox," she giggled as her nose touched his. "Now I promised my sisters that we would meet them at the carnival."

He kissed her deeply and then with her pulling him by the paw, she led him down the Boardwalk.

Off the coast the sea's swells tossed around a pod of porpoises, awaking them from their slumber.

Stone laughed as he was bounced around in his little red bumper car, which had been rammed by Karen's purple car. "Outfoxed you fox!" she triumphantly called to him before she was hit by her sister Peggy's car.

"This is as bad as being on Route 66 in rush hour!" the fox proclaimed as he wheeled his car around and aimed at Peggy's blue car, which was trying to avoid his.

Amid the noise and music, Stone paused as his ears flicked at the strange sound coming from the sea. He felt the surf was calling to him desperately and he felt a tingling in the back of his neck. When Peggy bumped his car, he didn't care and despite the warning of the carny working the ride he jumped out of the machine. "Karen!" he yelped. "Get Peggy and head for the hotel!"

He leapt off the front of another car and up onto the railing, the carney had shut the power off to the cars to keep him from being hit, but he didn't notice. Quickly he shimmied up a wooden pole and stared out at the sea and he saw it even from that far away, its white frothy tips had already begun to fold unto itself in a giant barrel. Revelers stood on the beach and looked out at the roaring sound, not understanding what was heading their way, but the surfer understood. "Get to high ground!" he barked as he pointed towards a tree. "Karen you and Peggy get to the tree!"

Panic ensued as the wave began to manifest itself in its full malevolence as it roared toward the shore. Like a fist, it slammed onto the beach sweeping everything within its reach and then the roiling white foamy deluge tore its way across the sand and onto the Boardwalk itself. As it receded back towards the sea the carnage at first didn't seem that great, almost everything still stood soaked but intact. It was then the cries of despair began as loved ones looked around for those missing. Large mammals began to help search around for others, because of their size, they were okay but it was the smaller mammals who suffered the most within the wave's reach. But even on the beach some of the larger mammals were gone, swept away into the waters.

The fox looked over at Karen, who was clutching Peggy as they sat on a tree branch and looked out at the horror along the shoreline. Then he felt a pair of hoofs grab and pull him from his post. "Come on Stone!" the large hippo bellowed. "Your night vision is better than mine! I need you to guide me into the dark waters ahead. We need to save as many as we can before it's too late!" Stone nodded as Mister Mvubu placed him on his shoulder and rushed toward the shore below them.

When sunrise finally came, the crowds that gathered on the shoreline didn't sing their joyous holiday hymns, but faced the grim task of saving those they could and recovering those they couldn't. Lights from police cruisers, fire trucks, and ambulances flashed red and blue in the early morning dawn as offshore, the orcas of the Harbor Patrol and other volunteer aquatic mammals had begun the grim task of searching for the victims of the early morning's disaster. Lifeguards swam in and out of the surf, the seals rejoicing when a survivor was found but more often just ferrying a lost one's body back to the beach.

Stone sat in the sand next to Mister Mvubu and both were exhausted. They had saved several dozen small and even a few medium sized mammals from the undertow by using the larger hippo's size and his ability to stay as a submerged platform for the small fox to swim to and from as he hauled back another small mammal to safety. Karen had assured him that she and her family were safe before she had returned to the hotel, which was now being used as a rescue shelter. He also had heard from his mother, she was still inland and safe. She had called Cooper to check on Stone, the hopper had already found his best friend and let her talk to him on his phone since the fox's was destroyed by the saltwater.

"Are you okay Stone?" a voice asked from behind him and he looked up to see the familiar uniformed red fox standing beside him with a small cup of coffee which he bent over and handed to the grateful smaller fox. "Your dad…no, we all were worried about you. I heard what you two did this morning." Nick said.

"I wish we could have done more," Mr. Mvubu grumbled. "I wish we could have done more!"

"Any idea how many?" Stone choked out. "I saw bodies everywhere! We were too late…too late…"

The Nick didn't answer his question, but sat down in the sand next to the small fox. "Look Stone, you did all you could do and you two saved a significant number of mammals who would have perished if you haven't come to their rescue. Sometimes you just can't save everyone, no matter how hard you try."

"She's never done this before!" Stone growled. His eyes were fixed on the soaking wet body of a young lamb in a white robe with rumpled wings on her back, her wreath was long gone. His eyes locked onto hers, which lifelessly seemed to stare back. Then he shuddered as a police officer zipped up the body bag, "Why did she do this?"

Nick at first wasn't sure who the little fox was talking about, but then he realized the younger fox was referring to the sea. "They say it was a fluke, a rogue wave formed during a storm hundreds of miles away," he answered. "It was a once in a century freak wave."

The little fox didn't answer but looked at the carnage with tears in his eyes.

The Winter's Eve Tidal wave was one for the city's history books when the final numbers were counted, there was over seventy who perished that morning, over a hundred injured, and several million dollars in property damage. It also left a trail of broken and damaged souls who need mending.


	24. A Broken Fox

**Chapter 24: A Broken Fox**

* * *

 **Post-traumatic stress causes our little hero to snap. Karen calls on Finn and Nick to try to help him out.**

* * *

It was a relatively warm winter afternoon and the sky was bright blue without a cloud in sight. The ocean had a blue and green hue, with white foam as it roared onto the shore. "Don't go down there!" Stone Kole snapped at Karen as he desperately pulled her back towards the Boardwalk.

The sand cat looked up at him in surprise. "Stoney, I'll be okay the surfs out." She winced as his grip tightened and she looked back and saw his panicked eyes. "You're hurting me!"

His ears flattened and he looked away from her. "Sorry…" he mumbled."It's just…" With a sigh, he didn't finish his sentence but looked back at the sea with trepidation and concern. He still clutched her arm with his powerful grip.

"Honey you need to let things go," she said as she drew him closer. "It was a freak wave, you know that!"

"Yeah, it was a freak wave," he absently repeated her words as he looked at the horizon with concern. The cat stepped up onto the walkway and frowned as the fox seemed to finally relax his grip some. "Just a freak wave."

It had been weeks since that early holiday morning and for Stone it had been like a lifetime, he couldn't sleep or eat as he was drawn to the Boardwalk just to stare at the horizon, as if to wait for the next killer wave. He found some peace and solace in Karen's bed after her family had left, they made love sometimes but mostly she held him in her arms as he whimpered and yipped in his sleep. She too was at her wits end.

Later that evening, the small fox sat alone on a bench along the backside of the Boardwalk. "You look like shit son," his mother observed as she sat down next to him. She reached over and pulled his light green jacket closed and zippered it against the evening chill. "I'm worried about you Stoney, have you not been sleeping?"

He looked towards her and shook his head. "Not really, I keep seeing her in my dreams," he sighed.

"Karen? I thought you were staying with her these nights?"

"No, the poor lamb I saw that night, the one in the white robe. She comes to me in my dreams, dripping wet and just stares at me with those blank lifeless eyes."

"Son, there was nothing you could do to save her," his mother replied as she reached out to touch is arm. "No one saw it coming."

"No, I felt it before I saw it," Stone slowly shook his head as he pulled himself away from her embrace. "I felt it, she was calling to me…warning me!"

"The lamb called you?" she asked as she reached up to sooth his ears.

"No, it was the sea! I felt her warning me."

"Stone, the sea cannot do that, it was just your imagination. It was a tragedy, you did what you could."

"NO!" he suddenly snarled. "I should have done more…I should…should have saved more!" He leapt up and stormed across the wooden planks toward the sea with his paws clutched. Susan could not help but notice that her son stopped just before he stepped onto the sand. She stood and began to walk towards him with her paws outstretched in an attempt to embrace him, but he looked at her with wild eyes. Then he turned and frantically ran away from her into the crowd. Susan Kole stood there and watched as her son ran off and sighed.

"He doesn't know how to grieve," a voice rumbled from above her. She looked up at the huge police officer. "I remember when Storm was arrested the first time and Stone was there, he saw it all but he didn't say a thing."

"I should have been home more for them when they were little," she sniffled, wiping her tears with her blouse's sleeve. "They needed their mother."

"You did the best you could do under the circumstances," the rhino replied. "Give him time."

She gave Officer Vifaru a weak smile.

"We'll keep an eye on him for you. Stoney has a lot of friends along the Strand, we'll watch over him until he works through this."

He wandered the Boardwalk for the remainder of the night until Cooper and Billy found him and led him back to Karen's parent's condo. The family was now gone, leaving Karen and her sister alone in the place. She made a phone call to his father that night and Finn promised to come meet them in the morning.

xxx

"Traumatic stress," the red fox in the tacky green jacket told her. "You live through something like that you second guess yourself, combine that with the horror he saw…yeah, it gets to you. I'll bet he's scared that it might happen again."

"What can we do?" Karen asked. The sand cat looked over at the fox she loved, who was sitting on a bench with his father.

"He needs counseling, professional help," Nick Wilde replied as he sipped on a bottle of water. "Why hasn't he gone to any of the sessions that the city clinics have been offering?"

"Too stubborn to do that and claims that he's just fine, but he's bottling it up inside of him like a tight spring."

"It's a fox thing. It's hard to trust others, we tend to build up walls around our feeling, compartmentalize things and suppress our emotions so we don't get hurt. It's not a smart thing to do, but it's in our nature. It drives Carrots…ah, my partner Judy crazy because she's a rabbit and she is so much more open with her feelings."

Karen gave a small smile when she realized that explained his strange scent, the red fox did smell a bit like a rabbit. It made her think of what others thought she must smell like? Surely she must have her fox's scent on her too?

"So when are you heading off to Saint Sylvester?"

"In a few weeks, but I'm not sure I can leave Stoney alone…no I won't leave him alone. I don't care what they say, he's my fox and I love him!"

"See that he gets help. I've been down that road myself and it almost cost me someone I loved.

Nick Wilde once told Stone Kole that he had learned not to argue with a fennec fox and he was right, especially if the fox is your father. Finnick had a temper and could curse up a storm that would even make a sailor blush, but when it came to his newly found son he had nothing but compassion. "Look Kit, ya done good," he said to the younger dejected fox. "So what's with this blaming of yourself crap?"

Stone sat there with sunken eyes and didn't answer.

"Son…" he began. The younger fox turned toward him and snarled. "Son! Son! Where the hell were you when Storm and I grew up needing our father?"

"You know that I didn't know you were even alive!"

"No you didn't, but we were! Left alone, shuffled around. NOBODY WANTED US!"

"Stone…" Karen began, but Finn held up a paw to silence her.

"The only reason I was here that night was because I have to live here in this miserable place! If we had a father…a family I would have gone to college and made something of myself and not just be a beach bum," there were tears streaming down his face. "I lost Storm…I lost my best friend…I lost her!"

"Who, Karen?"

"The sea!" he wailed and stood up. "She turned on me just like everyone else!" He stumbled to the edge of the walkway, but stopped before he touched the sand. "She turned on me too!" he mumbled. Then like a rocket he took off running toward the carnival.

"Stop him Wilde!" Finn yelled as he took off running after him. The red fox was swift, but the little fennec fox was faster and soon they lost him in the Carnival.


	25. Hang Ten Stoney

**Chapter 25: Hang Ten Stoney!**

* * *

 **Our story concludes as Stone has to face his nightmare and come to grips with his PTSD.**

* * *

Stone Kole wandered the Strand, aimlessly walking along the streets like a shadow. Finally he stumbled into the harbor park and sat down at a picnic table to rest. The sun was shining off the sea and his eyes drooped as he slowly let his head rest on the table and he gave a small yawn before he closed them.

 _She stood there in the wet darkness, her white robe writhing as if it was alive. Her eyes looked at him, those unblinking lifeless sad eyes that seemed to be staring into his soul "I tried!" he cried out to her in his nightmare, but she didn't say a word and just reached out with her hoofs to embrace him. "I tried!"_

Thunder awoke him with a start as the cold rain came. Above him dark clouds had gathered and he was soon soaking cold. Stuffing his paws into his wet jacket pockets he slowly stumbled towards Karen's place, his only sanctuary in his madness.

"Stoney, you're wet to the bone!" she greeted him at the door. He tried to give her a small smirk as he shivered in the doorway. She pulled him inside and shoved him towards the bathroom. "Strip and dry yourself off fox!"

"You just want to see me naked," he weakly tried to joke.

"It's not anything I haven't seen before. Dry yourself off and I'll heat you up some soup."

"I'm really not hungry."

"Too bad, you're going to eat something even if I have to force it down your big mouth!"

He fell asleep just after he ate a few spoonfuls and she tucked him into her bed, before climbing in next to him. She smiled as he nuzzled her and then she slowly rubbed his back. Outside the storm raged and little did she know it raged even fiercer in his dream.

 _He stood in the sea and she was there before him again as the storm raged and the rain fell. "I tried!" he wailed again and again, but she still didn't answer. Her white robe was wrapped around her and the crown of candles upon her forehead burned out one at a time in the rain. His eyes widened in horror as he saw it behind her, the wall of water that was rushing towards them both! With a snarl, he rushed past the lamb and screamed at the wave, he tried to fight it…to strike out but still it came._

Karen awoke with a start when Stone moved as if he was possessed. He stood and yowled at the storm before looking around with wide and seemingly vacant eyes! Suddenly, he bounded out of the bed to the apartment's door and then ran down the hallway. She quickly grabbed her white silk robe and pulled it over her own nakedness as she tried to run after him, while at the same time trying to call Cooper on her cell phone. "He's gone crazy!" she desperately wailed out when the wallaby answered. "He's heading towards the beach!"

Then she slipped and fell in the parking lot and watched as the naked fox frantically ran across the wet sand and without hesitation, plunged into the cold waves. "No!" the cat screamed when she saw him disappear into the waves and she followed him into the surf.

The fox cursed and punched at the water as it came in, one wave after another. It was pushing and then pulling at him. Tears ran down his cheeks as he screamed and yowled in his anger and pain, but then the seventh wave hit. It was larger than the others and engulfed the frantic fox, dragging him under into the inky waters. He struggled in his panic to break free of its foamy grasp, his eyes burned from the salt and his lungs soon cried out for air as he tried to find his way to the surface. Suddenly before him he saw her as she was walking in the waves…no walking upon the water. Her white robe flowed as if it was alive and it almost looked as if she had wings¸ a halo much brighter than any wreath of candles burned upon her forehead. "I'm sorry!" he gasped out, as he reached for her hoof.

She didn't speak but smiled at him, he saw that there were no longer lifeless eyes looking at him but living eyes full of love. It was then that he realized that she didn't hold him at fault and that he didn't need her forgiveness, but he needed to forgive himself. A sense of peace washed over him, like the waves that engulfed him again. He looked back up at her, the halo was gone and then the figure in white spoke, "Stoney…"

"Are you God?" he asked.

"No, I'm a very wet cat!" was Karen's answer as he began to choke and gasp for air. His eyes fluttered open and he saw the grey skies above him and then as lighting split the night skies he saw her looking down at him with her scared green eyes.

He felt himself being dragged further onto the sand as she panted. He felt something covering his body and realized it was a towel. "Hella night to have a nervous breakdown mate!" a familiar voice said from the darkness. "Next time you go for a bloody swim in the middle of a bloody storm, at least wear some bloody boardies!"

The curvy cat shook herself and pulled on the coat which the wallaby had taken off and offered her so she could cover her own nakedness which showed through the reveling wet white silk robe. Then she sat on the sand and pulled the fox's head into her lap. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I don't know what happened to me," he shuddered. "I just snapped."

A warmer breeze blew across the sand as the storm move inland and he saw that Cooper had sat down next to him. The storm now rumbled in the distance and then suddenly the moon appeared between the grey clouds and shone down upon the beach and the now almost docile surf. The wallaby reached over and took his best friend's paw in his. "You know you can never lose me Stoney," the wallaby said. "We've best mates forever."

Billy came and joined them as they sat there on the rain soaked sand and watched the sea as it glittered in the moonlight. The surf no longer sounded angry to the fox and soon it, along with Karen's soothing rubbing of his ears, lulled him to a much needed peaceful sleep.

They awoke in the predawn half-light, still laying in the sand to find that a blanket had been tossed over them. Stone had pushed himself under Karen's jacket and the robe, his cheek rested on her chest fur. Nearby Cooper slept in Billy's hug, both softly snoring. The fennec fox blinked several times before he gently untangling himself from the cat's arms and sat up. "I forgot to bring a date," Reggie softly snickered. "You four must have had a hell of a date night!"

Stone frowned at him, causing the meerkat to chuckle. "Hakuna Matata!" Reggie added with a grin. "That's all I can say. But you might want to pull that blanket over your lap before the cops come by again, they frown on naked foxes." He stood up and wiped the sand off himself with a sigh.

"Where are you going?" the fox asked him.

"I drove across town in my dad's car to check on you. I'll get you some clothes from the trunk and then I'm getting some coffee."

The meerkat returned with a black rubbery wetsuit and his surf board, towering behind him was a huge uniformed rhino carrying a tray of coffee. "Officer Vifaru, I can explain!" Stone said as he wrapped the towel around his waist.

The cop removed his glasses before looking down at him. "Explain what?" he chuckled. "I can't see a damn thing without my glasses, so who wants some coffee?"

Stone struggled to pull the tight wetsuit over his body without exposing himself too much to the officer and finally he had it on. He looked over at his friends, Cooper was sitting with his arms around Billy, Karen was standing next to him wrapped in the blanket, towering above her was Officer Vifaru, he had just put his glasses back on and was looking down the beach. Then there was Reggie…well, the meerkat just grinned and handed him his board.

Stone looked at the surf and then back at Karen, the cat just smiled and nodded. Then with an enthusiasm he had thought he had forgotten, the fox gave a joyful bark as he splashed into the water. Behind him his friends whooped and hollered as he found the perfect wave.

"Hang ten, Stoney…hang ten!" he heard them yell and he laughed because as a fox, he could only hang eight…but hey, who's counting?

* * *

 **Stone Kole and the gang will return in a new adventure!**

 **Zootopia: Stone Kole in Dark Paradise** – Zooptopia's favorite small board surfer and his pals travel to an exotic tropical island to be in a movie, but the gang soon learns everything is not as idyllic as it seems. Can his father Finnick, along with Nick & Judy, save them all from the clutches of a crazed voodoo priest before a hurricane hits the island? Oh, there's also that pesky ghost of a pirate too!

 **Excerpt from the story:**

Stone's ears flicked as he was startled awake by the strange sound that seemed to be within the hut's room. It was if a voice was very softly speaking in an even fainter whisper at the end of the bed. He strained to listen for the sound and he could barely hear it amongst the roaring sound of the surf down the trail. "Rum…rum…where's the bloody run?" it sounded like someone was asking.

The fennec fox sat up and looked around, but he didn't see anything usual with the room. The moonlight was steaming through the curtains, lighting the room up as if it was already daybreak. He felt Karen stir and roll onto her stomach and was startled as her tail softly swished along his side.

Suddenly, there was a loud thump as the empty bottle of Champagne fell off the table and rolled across the floor. The fox's eyes widen in disbelief as it mysteriously stopped and then righted itself upon the wooden tiles. "Oops, I don't know me own strength mate!" a voice clearly said from inside the room.

"What the hell is going on?" Stone yipped as he jumped out of the bed and frantically looked around.

"Oh my, a fox…a little fox…a very naked little fox," the now amused voice remarked.

"Stoney?" Karen sleepily called out to him. "Are you okay?"

The small fox turned to watch as the cat sat up and pulled the covers over her naked body. Then his eyes widen with fear as he looked back behind him to see that a wispy mist was beginning to form into a still transparent, but definitely identifiable form of a tall lean coyote. It was dressed in what appeared to be an old fashioned doublet jacket and vest with black canvas pants. The figure turned toward the little fox and swept what looked like a tricorne hat from its head as it bowed. "Captain Jack Sp...Spa...damn this curse! Just call me Captain Jack and I'm at your service mate," he proudly announced. "Now where do you keep the rum?"

"Where did you come from?" Stone stuttered.

"Who are you talking to Stoney?" Karen asked.

It was at that moment that Stone Kole wished he had stayed in Zootopia.


	26. Epilogue - There are Stormy Times Ahead

**Chapter 26:** **Epilogue -** **There are Stormy Times Ahead**

* * *

 **I added this chapter to the end of my story to give you little more about Stone's brother Storm. Storm return's in the third story of the** **Stone Kole Series** **titled,** **Zootopia** **: Stone Kole in Storm Warning.**

* * *

The stout steel bars of the prison cells had been slammed closed with a loud clang and locked tight. In just a few minutes, the prison guards would cut off the overhead lights for the evening and the sound of the tan uniformed warthog's hoofs echoed as he made his rounds, checking on each cell's occupants.

Storm slammed his fist into the dingy gray colored cell wall, as he looked up at the tan furred middle aged jackal named Jerry who towered over him. "I got a message today from the boss for you, he says he wants you back when you get out!" the larger canid chuckled. "You should know that once you're in the mob, there is no way out."

"Did I say that I want a way out?" the younger smaller fox softly growled. For an animal his small size, Storm had a surprisingly deep voice. "I swore my allegiance to Salazar all those years ago in payment for killing that damn pervert who used my mother. I still owe him for that favor."

"We were just concerned, with all that has happened with your surfer brother turned movie star and now a hero. Then there's the fact that he has found out that your father is Finnick..."

"FINNICK AIN"T MY FATHER!"

"Hush! You're gonna get us in trouble with the guards for yelling like that and yeah, he is you father short stuff! Face it Storm, you're the son of a whoring maid and a street hustler."

With a growl, the small fox charged the jackal and with surprising speed and strength, he swept the other canid's legs from under him. Jerry let out a yip as he fell onto his back, only to find the fox was now standing on his chest and shoving a shank under his chin. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Storm snarled as he pressed the sharp object deeper into the jackal's throat.

"Whoa fox, Just calm down!"

"You take that back!"

"Okay, I'm sorry about what I said about your mom and dad."

Storm pulled the shank from under his cellmate's neck and hopped off his chest. "Nobody talks that way about my mom!" he snarled. "She did the best she could, considering she got knocked up and dumped by that two-bit bastard."

"Finnick? I met him a few times and he really didn't seem like he's that a kind of a guy. He seems to be a low key kind of fox, keeps his small time scams out of the way of the mob and has a wicked sense of humor. You know he still hangs out with that other fox…ah, Wilde. Yeah, the fox who became a cop! Now that is one SOB I'd like to see shanked."

"Wasn't Wilde the fox who helped save us preds from that plot the former mayor was involved with?" Storm asked as he climbed back onto his cot. "He was with that cute little bunny."

"Her name is Hopps and they are now partners. I understand that the two of them have been causing hell for the street hustlers and con-mammals."

"Why doesn't the boss do them in? They wouldn't be the first cops he had killed?"

"Naw, the bunny is a good buddy with Big's daughter. Hell, the word on the streets is that she is the godmother of Big's granddaughter."

"So what, the fox ain't?"

"Rumor is that the fox and bunny are a bit more than just partners on the police force."

"You are kidding? A fox and a rabbit?"

"Yeah, go figure? But, say isn't you brother sweet on a cat?"

"Zip it about Stoney."

"Aren't we sensitive tonight? I always wondered why your brother didn't follow you into the mob?"

"I wouldn't let him, it's that simple. He has a better life being a beach bum, making money on his surfboard and not on the streets. Naw, Stone is too nice of a guy to do this for a living."

"You mean he has a conscious?" Jerry laughed as he climbed up into the top bunk. "So unlike you, I can't believe that you two are really brothers?"

"Yeah, he is also too naive!"

"Or you're too cynical."

"Shut up jackal!"

"Storm, you know my dad is a real piece of work. He beat my mom for years before he finally went to prison and then he got me into the mob. Your dad…"

"Finnick ain't my dad!"

"Well what I am saying is that maybe you should give him a chance? Get to know him."

"When I get out of here, I'll give him a chance!" Storm growled. "I'll give him a chance to get out of town and leave my mother and brother alone!"

The lights began to click off, row after row along the prison cell corridor. "Lights out!" an authoritarian voice blared over the speakers.

"Just saying…" Jerry quickly added while he stripped off his orange prison jumpsuit and crawled under his cot's blanket.

"Shut up and go to sleep!" was the answer he got.

"Good night Storm."

"Yeah, shut up!" Storm shoved his shank back into its hiding place inside of his mattress and rolled over, pulling the thin pillow under his head as he looked up into the semidarkness at a photo which was taped to the underside of Jerry's bunk overhead. It was of two young fennec foxes mugging for the camera, one was grinning and the other was trying to act tough. He blinked away a tear as he stared at the photo and whispered, "Night Stoney."

Overhead, his cell mate's ears twitched as he heard his friend's whisper. For as hard as the little fox tried to act tough, Jerry knew that somewhere deep in Storm's heart there was still faint hope for a better future than that of a career as a petty criminal. Jerry was twice his cell mate's age and knew that the little fox was barely in his twenties, still somewhat of a kid to the older jackal, who had a son his age. Clutching the amulet that hung around his neck, he silently muttered a prayer to the gods that the fox might break away from Salazar and live a happy life.


End file.
